


Scour the Earth

by MoonlitRamblings



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: AU after 3x11, F/F, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, magic!baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-18
Updated: 2014-04-18
Packaged: 2018-01-19 21:20:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 25,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1484410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonlitRamblings/pseuds/MoonlitRamblings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>NYC: Emma and Henry are happy, despite confusing dreams of a woman they've never met. FTL: Regina is drowning, between fighting the Wicked Witch and trying to find a way back to her family. Can a miracle help? How will she break through their new memories when she does get to them? Spoilers through 3x11 then AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Forgotten Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was really fun doing the SQBB, if rather nerve-wracking, and I hope you enjoy my story.  
> A big shout-out to Btvsobsessed623 for being my beta, even if I asked rather last minute and chocolate-cream-soldier for making me such lovely art.
> 
> Finally got the official art link:
> 
>   
> **Art by** [chocolate-cream-soldier](http://chocolate-cream-soldier.tumblr.com).  
>   
> 
> 
> Isn't it so pretty?

Dreaming of You

 

She couldn’t quite pinpoint the moment the dreams started. They felt familiar, as if she’d had them her whole life and yet, when she really concentrated, she knew it had only been the past few months she’d been getting them. The fact that she had them over and over and over again—and that was strange enough—but it was the nature of them that was really unusual.

Normally, when it comes to dreams, Emma forgot them within five minutes of waking up, tops. Not only was she remembering the dreams, but they felt almost like they were actually memories. Which of course didn’t make any sense because she’d never met the woman who now haunted her dreams. She definitely would have remembered her.

At least they were more pleasant than the nightmares, memories really, she still got about certain foster families she had been placed with. Actually, she had been getting rather terrifying dreams where she gave Henry up and lived alone, without him for the last few years of her life.

She tried not to think about those, although sometimes even her powers of denial are no match for the realistic nightmares. She would have to go check on him to make sure he was still asleep in his bed. He always was and she was always able to go back to sleep, soul and worry soothed.

These dreams are not scary like those or the ones based on her actual memories. She can never remember what was going on in the dream, who was there or why, except for one person. A beautiful brunette with big brown eyes, full of pain and sadness. Sometimes the woman is smiling, but it looks like a mask on her face—mostly she seems sarcastic. It’s a look Emma finds comforting, which she supposed made dream sense, but when she would wake up and it was still comforting, well—that made less sense. She never spoke and yet sometimes, right as Emma was waking up, she thought she could hear the ghost of once she woke up though, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t quite remember the sound of her voice.

She always woke up feeling so many different and contradictory emotions: frustrated and grudgingly impressed, confused and interested, worried and angry, worried and sad, hurt and sad, happy, relieved, confused, elated and concerned, and…. Just everything. So perhaps it wasn’t a surprise that once she was fully awake, she was struck most by a profound sense of loss, of… She didn’t even know what, but it was like an itch or something she could only see from the corner of her eye, that disappeared when she tried to look at it head on. In short, it left her frustrated as hell.

Sometimes she could get back to sleep, although she never dreamed of anything else after dreaming of the woman. Other times she couldn’t and so she had begun taking out her sketch pad and drawing, as if getting the woman onto paper might help get her out of her head. Sometimes it was enough for her to get back to sleep, but just as often it ended with her on the fire escape staring out over the city, feeling lonely for someone she had never known.

Mostly, she banished it to the back of her mind during the normal routine of the day with consistent success, an oddity reserved for the dark only. Until, one Saturday morning, Henry came to her and said, “Ma? Can I ask you about something? I’ve been having these weird dreams…”

-x-x-x-

 

Shared Dreams

At first, Emma wasn’t actually paying a ton of attention to what Henry was saying. It was early and she was waiting eagerly by the coffee pot for that first cup so she could feel less like a zombie. “Sure, kid. What happened in it?”

“Well…” She could picture his face scrunched up as he tried to remember. Henry usually had kind of cool dreams, elaborate with lots of detail, lots of fantasy too—from superhero to swords and sorcery—no showing-up-to-school-without-pants dreams for her kid. She should really pay attention, if only for the entertainment factor.

“Not much really happens, actually,” he admitted. “It’s mainly about this lady.” Emma had chosen that moment to pour her cup of coffee and her mind caught on that last statement. She jerked her hand enough to spill some on the counter, although luckily not any on herself. She tried to ignore her suddenly racing heart and hoped Henry hadn’t notice her slip. She turned slightly, he hadn’t. He was staring hard at the table, drawing little swirls on the surface still deep in thought.

She turned back around before he looked, carefully mopping up the spill automatically and slowing her breathing because there was no way it was the same woman…right? She waited with bated breath for him to continue as she carefully resumed pouring her cup, suddenly in desperate need of caffeine in order to handle whatever Henry said next.

“I don’t know who she is or anything, and I don’t think we’ve met her, but she makes me feel…safe. And important and special.”

Emma finally turned around, taking a sip, “Anything else? Come on kid, your dreams normally have more to them that that.”

“I know, but I’ve been having these dreams too,” he whined. “That’s what’s so annoying about them! I can never remember anything actually _happening_ , just what the lady looks like and how she makes me feel.” He huffed because if there’s anything Henry hates, it’s not knowing something. “And she always looks so _sad_ and it makes me wanna….wanna….”

“Give her a hug and make it all okay?” Emma suggested quietly, putting the impulse her dreams always give her into words.

Henry jerked his head up. “Exactly,” he confirmed triumphantly.

Emma sat down heavily at their kitchen table, wondering when her life had gotten this strange, because it seems like it _is_ the same woman from her own dreams. She supposed her life had never been simple, it had never quite been sharing-dreams-with-her-son-of-a-mystery-woman-neither-of-them-had-ever-met complicated either. She asked, with a hint of resignation, “What does she look like?”

Henry frowned, “Really pretty. Short brown hair, brown eyes.”

Even though she expected it, it was still a shock to realize she was right, “Wait here for a minute, ‘kay?” She gulped down the rest of her coffee as he nodded, lost in his own thoughts and not noticing how pale his mother had gone or how worried she seemed over a dream.

Emma jogged to her room to find the small, red notebook she had bought when they got to NYC, something she did whenever they come to a new town. This book was different than the previous ones in that it has the same subject for each of the twenty or so sketches that filled it—and none of them were of the city.

When she got back to the kitchen, she sent it sliding down the table to Henry. Henry looked at the book in confusion as she sat back down before he opened it, curious. He studied the sketched profile of a woman, as always impressed and annoyed he didn’t seem to have inherited his mom’s drawing ability. Then comprehension dawned and he gaped at the page. “That’s her!” he exclaimed, looking up at her in surprise. “Who is she?”

“Beats me.”

“But…” He began flipping through the sketchbook. “You have all these pictures of her! Is she someone we met when I was little?”

“Nope, as far as I can remember, we’ve never met her,” Emma admitted.

“But then how…?”

“Here’s the thing, I’ve been having dreams too. Of that woman.”

“You… You mean, we’ve _both_ been having dreams about someone we’ve never met?” Where Emma seemed freaked out, Henry mostly looked excited.

“Seems like it.” Emma put her head in her hands, it was too early for this kind of thing. “I can’t believe you’re having them too. This was all bad enough when only I was crazy…”

“Hey!” Henry seemed particularly upset at the insinuation he was going crazy, “If anything this proves we’re not crazy. Two people can’t just both, without talking to each other, make up the same person. We must know her somehow…” He continued to look through the rest of the drawings.

Emma felt a small proud smile on her face at his determined tone. Henry was on a mission now. She wasn’t sure what any of this meant, as he began to spout off random theories to her, but she knew the two of them could handle anything together. They’d figure this out. Just like they always did.

-x-x-x-


	2. Obstacles

Battle Plan

The brunette in the corner watched the proceedings with unwavering attention. Even to someone who didn’t know who she was, it was obvious from the way she held herself and the way she was attired that she was a queen. Her black leather pants, black coat, and the large amulet that drew attention to her considerable cleavage gave her an aura of power and danger, almost making her own corner of the large war room seem literally darker than the rest. Consciously or subconsciously, no one was within three feet of her, which was probably a smart move because the longer she listened to the plan Prince David was outlining, the more contemptuous and frustrated she became. How exactly had these people beaten her, once upon a time?

“—and then we have a second force come through the forest at the back. We can catch her unawares and open the gates from the inside to crush her between the two forces.” David indicated the places he mentioned on the map of Regina’s old castle, which the Wicked Witch had made her home during their absence, as he spoke.

Regina resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the inanity of this plan. She looked every inch the Evil Queen she used to be called, except for the fact that her hair was as short as it had been in Storybrooke. No one had said anything, although everyone had noticed the very first morning after they’d arrived that she’d cut her regrown locks. She still acted like the queen she was as well, although she let Snow and David take the lead, adding her two cents when asked or her expertise was needed.

She had put back on the mask of the Evil Queen, used it as armor to guard herself from her grief when in public. In private however, she was nothing more than a mother who had lost her son, a woman who had lost her… She shook herself from her thoughts, focusing on the meeting and her anger. Anger was her fallback and she cloaked herself in it.

Snow had listened carefully and wasn’t as sure of the plan as her husband was. She wanted to bring the fight to the Wicked Witch too, she certainly wanted this war over with, and yet…

“What is your opinion?” Snow asked over the sound of David and Grumpy trying to nail down some details, catching Regina’s stare and correctly guessing that she had something to say.

“My opinion?” Regina asked mildly, and Snow internally winced—she knew that tone, this was not going to be pretty. “My _opinion_ is that this plan is completely ridiculous.”

“Hey! I—” David began to protest.

“ _You_ are an idiot if you think this has even a remote chance of happening, let alone accomplishing anything beyond our forces losing however many poor fools you send on such a suicidal mission.”

Snow’s face hardened into a frown, but she bit back her instinctive response. She had asked. The change had to be hardest on Regina, she tried to remind herself. Snow and David had their friends to turn to for support and compassion when it came to the loss of their daughter and grandson. The community was stronger than ever in the face of this new threat and its demands kept their minds occupied.

Regina had withdrawn. She rarely set foot anywhere besides her rooms and the general meeting places, often taking meals by herself as well. She spoke when necessary, argued at meetings, fought fiercely, but the rest of the time she spent in isolation. It worried them at first because they feared she might be planning something, as was their default assumption where she was concerned.

For the most part though, the royal couple was relieved. They had been allies in Neverland and when the second curse came to take them away. They were allies once more to fight Elphaba and eventually find a way back to Emma and Henry, but they still clashed—over logistics, over strategy, over hope—and while it wasn’t enjoyable by any stretch of the imagination it was normal enough for them that the familiarity was a comfort in many ways.

Still grief did not give Regina license to say whatever she wished nor to speak to her husband like that. She took a deep breath before speaking, “Regina, do you have any actual criticisms or only insults to throw?”

Regina sneered at her, her usual tolerance for Snow’s sanctimonious attitude at an all-time low. “I should think the failings of this plan should be obvious. Firstly, there is the fact that you seem to have no idea whether you want this “second force” to act as a small army or a small stealth team. Secondly, you wish to attack without any knowledge of the amount of Elphaba’s fighters in residence, which is questionable regardless because they can fly in and out whenever they please. Don’t even get me started on how foolish it would be for you to lead either group yourself.”

Regina was saying more in one go than she had in weeks and magic began to literally leak out of her. Purple lightning raced over her skin and everyone moved even further away from her as she leaned forward to continue her tirade. “Any sort of assault needs a great deal more planning and surveying of her forces than we have at the moment. On top of that, the fact remains that winter is coming and she seems to be quiet for the moment. We should be taking advantage of this lull to make sure the fairies are having enough success with the harvest and there are enough people on hand to bring it. Restoring storehouses and training the soldiers who have been twenty-eight years without weapons is what we should be focused on. We are not in the strongest position in this war and while we have regained ground, we should take this opportunity to rest and regroup.”

“Now you suddenly care about the people,” Grumpy said, frowning heavily.

“I didn’t say this plan was perfect,” David protested. “But we shouldn’t just sit here and wait for the Wicked Witch to come get us! We need to bring the fight to her!

Regina stalked over to stand on the opposite side of the table from the prince. “The only one who has anything to gain from this little attack is her when she destroys us. Just because you feel like that’s what the good guys or the prince should be doing, doesn’t mean that’s what makes the most sense. And I refuse to listen to you tote this farce of a _plan_ ,” she practically spat the last word, “any longer!” Regina slammed her hand down on the table to punctuate her statement. She was crackling with magic and seemed to glare at each person individually at the same time, her eyes swirling purple at the center. Then she turned on her heel and strode out of the room, the doors opening and shutting behind her with a bang.

When Snow looked away from her former stepmother’s dramatic exit she almost gasped, her eyes on the table Regina had just punctuated her last statement on. There, burned into the wood, was the perfect imprint of a hand, slight smoke still drifting lazily from the spot.

x-x-x-x-x-x

Late Night in the Library

Ruby made her way silently through castle halls. She was eager to be out tonight, her feet practically itching with the desire to run. She smiled at the moon as it shone through one of the castle windows, picking up her pace, until her senses made her stop in a doorway. Someone else was awake, in the library, despite the fact that it was the middle of the night.

She took a deeper breath, wondering who would be up past midnight and apparently had some sort of urgent reading to do. Hm, female with a hint of dark spice, pain, and magic—Regina. What could she be doing?

She would just take a quick peak, Ruby decided to herself as she softly padded into the large set of rooms. Anything important enough for late night research was probably something they all should know about. Regina was definitely the type to play things close to the vest, the type to wait until she figured out a solution before she mentioned the problem. That type of thinking had served her when she on her own, but it could be a disaster now that they were all a team.

She found the brunette set up at a corner table, a high pile of books next to her and a large and dusty one open in front of her. To Ruby’s surprise she was wearing a robe that looked very Storybrooke, along with a pair of reading glasses that Ruby had not even been aware she’d needed. She stopped just outside of the circle of light given off by the candle and some sort of magical light globe set up the former queen had going.

The other woman stiffened, whirling suddenly, her eyes seeking out another’s in the dark. She’d been spotted, or as Regina’s eyes searched rather blindly, sensed in the very least. She stepped out of the shadows. Regina lost most of her tension at the sight of the werewolf although she straightened her posture ever so slightly, pulling on her public persona as if Ruby couldn’t smell the exhaustion and despair that clung to the other woman constantly. She could also now see that under her robe was a silky set of pajamas. The woman had never more looked like the mayor and mother she’d been when the curse was still in place than she did now, all trace of the former Evil Queen persona she’d been maintaining in the light of day gone.

“Miss Lucas,” Regina said, slight confusion in her voice. “What are you doing here?”

Ruby hid a smile at that form of address and simply shrugged, “Was on my way for a run, could tell someone was in here, wondered why. It’s pretty late for some light reading after all.”

Regina seemed to study her, clearly attempting to gauge her sincerity, before nodding. “Quite.”

“So… What’re you looking up? Did something happen?”

Regina once more seemed to weigh the other brunette, but Ruby waited patiently. These days Regina struck her as a cornered animal, one very likely to lash out if not approached carefully. Finally she shook her head, “No. I was merely looking through the few books here on magic.”

“Don’t you have your own spell books?”

“I do, but most of them are in my castle. I haven’t read these because when I lived here I ignored the official collection the royal family maintained in order to keep any suspicion of my magical tutelage low. Besides, I’m looking into fairy magic. I never was interested before and most of my knowledge is unofficial. I was attempting to see if there are any solutions to be had in that branch of magic. Both for our current problems as well as…the more long term ones. The royal family’s connection with the fairies is long standing and they do actually possess a fair amount of lore.”

Ruby felt like she was missing something. “Couldn’t you just ask the fairies?”

“If I have no foundation of information to work from, it’s hard to know what questions to ask or where to begin.” Regina sneered, “And we don’t exactly see eye to eye, the fairies and I—with Tink being the exception. Regardless, if I understand their capabilities better I can make more informed plans and suggestions without having to ask every time. And while Blue might know most fairy secrets, I don’t particularly trust her. Most of the other fairies appear to not know much, just as I do not know every single thing my magic is capable of.” She frowned at that, as if her magic had recently been doing things she had not known it to do.

Ruby nodded before hesitating, “I… You’re not just looking for information to help fight the Wicked Witch, are you?”

Something flashed in the former queen’s eyes and the exhaustion and despair intensified for all that she remained cool and distant on the outside, “No, I am not.” Then she sighed, some of what she was feeling actually showing on her face, “Unfortunately, fairy magic seems to have very little in the way of travel between worlds. Especially travel to a world without magic due to their inherent magical nature.”

Ruby’s face fell, she missed Emma and Henry—just as everyone did. “…How are we gonna get back to them?”

Regina’s eyes flashed again, but this time with steely determination, “By any means necessary. While I am searching for alternatives that are quicker, I do have a plan.”

“You do?” Ruby asked, not having heard any mention of an actual plan; only that everyone, to one degree or another, was trying find a way. “I didn’t know that.”

“Yes, well… I haven’t told anyone because it’s rather, long term.” She had only shared the bare skeleton of her plan with Tink and while she had no desire to share it with Snow, it might be nice to share it with someone actually knew and missed Henry and Emma too. Tink hadn’t had much of a chance to know them and therefore didn’t really miss them. Ruby just looked confused so Regina continued, “It will take a minimum of a year to complete.”

“A year?” Ruby asked, dismayed.

“Yes, it involves rewriting the entire original curse.”

“Wait, would we lose our memories again?”

“Ideally, no. That is one of the challenges. There’s also the problem of fueling the spell, recreating the town, bringing along whoever else wishes to return, etc. Also, as the only other person with strong enough magic to help me in this world is currently trying to kill us, I would have to do all the work entirely on my own.”

“Couldn’t the fairies help?”

“That was what I was endeavoring to discover. However, my initial instinct seems to be correct.” She sighed heavily, “No, this branch of magic is nothing like their own.”

“It will really take that long?”

Regina looked at the werewolf sharply, but the other brunette didn’t seem like she didn’t believe her, just that she was upset it would take so long. “Rumpelstilskin took decades to develop the original dark curse. I’m taking a shortcut as it is by modifying that curse but…. It will take time.”

“Can anyone help? Is there anything I can do?” Ruby felt helpless, she wanted her friends back, and for all that she knew it was selfish, she wanted to be back in Storybrooke. She missed how easy everything was, she missed her clothes, she missed the internet—she even missed her job as a waitress. The Enchanted Forest no longer felt like home, Storybrooke did.

Regina blinked at her and Ruby could smell her complete confusion. Then she wondered if anyone had ever really offered Regina help with no strings attached, because they wanted to achieve same thing she did. Regina evidently brushed off her feelings though and said, “Unfortunately, this type of complex spell work can only be done by someone with magic. It’s too precise, complicated, and delicate. There’s only one dark curse to modify and if it gets ruined… That’s another reason it will take me so long—I need to make sure I do everything correct the first time or it won’t work ever.”

“Alright, well, let me know if there’s anything you can think of that I might be of use for.”

Regina gave her another measuring look, “I might just hold you to that.”

Ruby nodded, “I’ll leave you alone then,” she hesitated, wanting to tell the older woman to get some sleep before she decided against it—not wanting to bring her temper against her. “I was on my way for a run, anyways.”

Comprehension blossomed in Regina’s eyes as she nodded. “Of course. Do not let me keep you any longer then.” She flapped a regal hand in dismissal.

Ruby thought about making some comment on that, but she could see Regina had already forgotten her, eyes focused back to her book. She left as silently as she had come.

-x-x-x-x-

Moving Out

“I do not wish to reside in this castle any longer,” announced the former queen, the stilted phrasing seemingly more formal due to her intense discomfort. Her fear of sounding like she was asking permission making her self-conscious. Her fear that they’ll hear the real truth within her words: I _can’t_ stay in this place, haunted by memories, another second.

Silence filled the room, the royal couple exchanged looks of confusion and suspicion. No one spoke, but everyone glanced at their neighbors. No one knew how to respond.

It was Archie who finally did, his voice mild, “Where would you like to go? Your castle is still under Elphaba’s control.”

“I know,” Regina barely managed not to snap. “Gerard had a house built on the edge of the property.”

“Who?” Snow interupted.

Regina scowled, “The head gardener. He passed on a year or so before… Regardless, I need space to concentrate and yet it would make sense for me to stay close by to offer my assistance when necessary. I do not believe anyone lives there now as his replacement preferred rooms in the palace itself.”

“Oh, well…” Snow still clearly had no idea how to respond.

“Where is it?” Granny asked, tone only curious. Everyone realized they needed to step carefully around the volatile witch.

Regina walked closer to the table, unrolling the map of Snow’s castle over the one of her own. “Here.” She touched a spot a fair walk from the main grounds, but still very much within the castle’s boundaries. It wasn’t particularly close to any other buildings, large gardens and part of one of the orchards between it and the castle proper.

They all bent forward to see. Regina sighed and carefully moved a candle stick to the spot and took a step back.

“I suppose, if you want,” Snow began slowly. She’d thought giving Regina rooms in the castle was the best idea, a way to make Regina feel included and a way to make sure she didn’t leave to pursue her own agenda. Of course, Snow hadn’t given her back the suite of royal chambers she used to occupy—that would have been pushing it—but she had given her a fairly nice set on the other side of the castle.

Honestly, she knew it was rather silly to think the rooms given to Regina in the castle were what were stopping her former stepmother from leaving them. If she truly thought that was the best way to get back to Henry, she would have left and none of them would have been able to stop her. This house was still close though and a great deal of people would probably be relieved with some more distance between them and the former Evil Queen. “As long as you continue to give us magical aid and update us on your progress regarding getting back to Emma and Henry, that sounds completely fine.” Snow seemed incapable of keeping her tone merely placating and over shot into the realm of condescending.

Regina’s face went still and cold, fighting the urge to make sure no one in this room believed that she was _asking_ , that she was, in any way, _weak_.

David spoke up, a wary glance to Snow which conveyed Regina was not hiding her desire to lash out very well. “Thank you, for informing of us of your decision.” Pride was not as meaningful to the shepherd as it was to the queens and meant nothing when it came to the need to see his daughter and grandson again. And David knew Regina was his best and only chance of that.

Luckily, it seemed to be concession enough to assuage the sorceress. She awarded him a nod of acknowledgement as her rage bled off.

Tinkerbell spoke up, “Do you want help checking if the house is still standing? Will you need any help moving?”

“I’ve already checked, it is,” Regina confirmed, “And no I will not. In fact, if there is nothing else urgent tonight I shall take my leave of you now to do so.”

Snow shook her head, “No, nothing has come up.”

Regina gave another brisk nod and disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.

x-x-x-x-x

Discovery

Ruby knocked on what was now the door of Regina’s house, waiting for her to answer. The witch had been acting strangely for the last couple of weeks. First, a couple of weeks ago, Regina began spacing out—hard. She paid less attention and wasn’t even faking it well. Some had noticed but most didn’t bother wondering if there was a reason behind it, figuring it was due to her thinking herself above paying attention. A few others noticed, but hadn’t said anything to the former queen because they didn’t want to make her more upset. Ruby was in that category, as were Archie and Tinker Bell—the trio were the only ones truly concerned about Regina for her own sake.

However, this was combined with something else strange that Ruby was pretty sure only she noticed. Despite the fact that something was clearly on her mind, something that was worrying her and distracting her, Regina seemed to suddenly begin taking better care of herself. The total exhaustion that had clung to the regal brunette diminished slightly, the circles under her eyes Ruby only saw during her visits to the other woman’s house were fading as well. Why was Regina, who had obviously been not sleeping well at all, suddenly getting more sleep despite whatever this new worry was?

She was eating better, too. Ruby volunteered to bring over Regina’s food, since a lot of servants were either too scared or too angry to do it and so she had known that Regina was not eating as much as she should. The former mayor was always allotted a decent amount of food and yet there were often leftovers, that the brunette had given out to other people, when there shouldn’t be. It was obvious to Ruby that the former queen was working herself into the ground, but Ruby didn’t know what to do about it so she did nothing aside from insisting Regina eat with her whenever she came by for an update.

Now though, she could see that Regina was actually using most of the food given to her. The meals they shared were beyond the simplest and fastest the brunette could manage and Ruby checked to be sure she’d stopped sending out her food. She was glad Regina was taking care of herself but she was confused about what prompted the change.

Then two weeks ago, Regina had seemed to move from confused and concerned when drifting out to merely lost in her thoughts. Instead of seeming as though she was spacing out beyond her control, she appeared to be consciously focusing on whatever it was that was bothering her. Finally the past two weeks, as Ruby’s senses re-sharped with the coming moon, she could smell the difference in her. The exhaustion had indeed lessened, but so had the despair. Sadness was still present but there was also some happiness—something Ruby hadn’t smelled on her the entire time they’d been back.

She wondered how the former queen would act today as Ruby came for her weekly update on the witch’s progress on getting back to the other world for Snow. Maybe she could figure out what was going on. Ruby loved gossip, even if she couldn’t tell anyone; she liked knowing what people were doing and why. It was just so interesting and a nice distraction from all the worrying—about the war, about the winter, about everything.

Regina opened the door with a polite smile at the werewolf, “Miss Lucas.”

“Hey,” Ruby greeted. Regina moved to the side and Ruby went in. “Lunch smells great. You’re gonna give Granny and the castle cooks a run for their money.”

Regina’s smile was more genuine this time as she followed Ruby to the kitchen table, “Yes, well, somehow I don’t think taste is what has been preventing me from doing so already.” Her eyes held wicked humor.

Ruby laughed, “I guess that’s true. So, any updates?”

They fell into a scattered conversation as they ate. Ruby had agreed to be the one to talk to Regina about how she was doing with regards to getting them back by Snow and David. Snow had wanted to come ask herself, at least once a day, but Ruby and the other councilors convinced her that would only serve to annoy the queen. So it was Ruby’s job to talk with Regina and then explain it to the others, giving Regina the peace she needed to work while keeping them all informed.

When they were done, Regina stood up to bring the dishes away and Ruby had mainly concluded that, whatever had been wrong with the former mayor before, she was more or less back to normal.

That was when Regina froze, gritting her teeth and squeezing her eyes shut for a split second before she _flickered_. Ruby blinked, wondering if she was seeing things before she realized that not only had Regina’s image faltered, but her scent and even how she sounded had changed, however briefly.

Ruby was ready when a second or so later, it happened again. Regina’s heartbeat sounded off, like there was an echo to it. Her dress changed too, in how it was fitted to her. Her scent…it was the strangest change of all.

It only took another few seconds for the older brunette to recover fully and she had evidently planned on completely ignoring the moment when Ruby put the pieces together and her eyes nearly popped out of her head.

“Miss Lucas…” Regina said warningly, watching the werewolf very closely.

“You’re pregnant!” Ruby blurted out, unable to keep her insight in.

Instantly, Ruby found herself flattened against the wall, arms up and anchored by wood that had grown out of the wall to wrap around her wrists. Despite this alarming turn of events, Ruby found most of her attention fixated on the former queen. Regina had dropped her glamor, having been found out, and Ruby now knew for sure she was right as she looked at the slight, but obvious changes to the other brunette’s figure.

Regina sighed as she stalked toward the younger woman, “I had so hoped we could avoid this, because now you’ve put me in a difficult situation.”

The tone was enough to snap Ruby out of her shock, finally realizing that Regina Mills was gone and the Evil Queen had imprisoned her against the wall. “I…” She swallowed heavily, caught in Regina’s dark and dangerous eyes, eyes that held calculation and very little sanity.

“You see, I have already been separated from my family and all I have left is this new little one,” Regina said, a hand on her stomach. “Nothing will take her away from me. Nothing will endanger her. No one must know of her”

“I wouldn’t hurt her! I won’t tell,” Ruby spit out hastily, trying to think of some way to get the brunette back from the edge her comment had unknowingly pushed her to the precipice of.

Regina’s eyebrows raised, “Will you not? Because I happen to have a bad history with _good_ people and their promises not to tell.”

Her voice was mocking but Ruby could see that she was completely serious underneath that tone. “I won’t! I swear!” she protested.

Regina narrowed her eyes, “Swear that you will not tell anyone about my child. Swear it on your wolf. And know that if you break your promise, _I_ swear that I will find a way to remove your wolf in a most painful way. One that you will never recover from.”

Ruby swallowed hard, but didn’t hesitate, “I swear, on my wolf, not to tell anyone about your child,” she tried to think of words that would reassure the unstable witch, “or in any way inform anyone of their existence.”

Regina stared at the werewolf hard until, without a single change to the emotionless mask she wore, Ruby dropped to the ground. Regina watched her carefully as the girl picked herself up. Ruby tried for a smile, “See? No running off to tell anyone.” She held her hands up in mock surrender, both aware it wasn’t really mock anything.

Regina nodded slowly, but from the intense way she watching her, the taller brunette knew she didn’t trust her, well, she would say “further than she could throw her” except the sorceress probably could throw her quite a distance. “So, wow, you’re uh,” she made a vague gesture at her stomach and one of Regina’s hands automatically went to her middle, as she angled her body away. Ruby recognized that stance immediately, protective—so much for moving the conversation back into the realm of normality.

“Yes,” Regina acknowledged. Her voice was much closer to her usual register and she was beginning to look less, well, unhinged if Ruby was being honest. She suppressed a shiver as she recalled the look in Regina’s eyes.

“Um…“ Ruby was trying to think of what to say when something occurred to her and her brow furrowed, “Who’s the dad? Cuz I didn’t know you were, like, seeing anyone.” She actually meant that pretty literally. Even when they had all been living together, in tents to the castle, Regina had managed to retreat fairly completely from those around her—not that anyone sought her out, but still.

“I’m not,” Regina said flatly.

“Oh!” Ruby was moving on from being petrified and more towards being embarrassed. “Right, that happens too. No judgment here.”

Regina wanted to maintain her more formidable air, but it was hard when Ruby was reminding her so much of Emma. “That’s not what happened either.”

Ruby narrowed her eyes, “What’dya mean?”

“I mean, that this baby was created with magic—not because I slept with someone. In fact, I have not done anything in the tradition way of conceiving in quite some time.”

It took Ruby a few seconds to figure out what Regina meant. When she did her eyes widened and she coughed loudly while Regina surveyed her with amusement. “Oh.” Her voice came out rather squeaky. “Right, guess that would make you think the baby was cuz of magic.” Then she frowned as she thought about that more. “But… I mean, I’ve heard of people conceiving with magical help, but don’t you still need another person and, erm, certain activities to happen. And be each other’s true love, or something like that?” She tried to remember those tales but they were rather far and few between.

Regina stared at the werewolf, obviously still trying to decide if she should trust her, before nodding. “Traditionally. The most common method for conceiving through magic is more along the lines of an infertility treatment and that requires sex and true love. The other, less common version, involves two powerful magic users and often includes sex, but it’s not a requirement. Both require significant intent as well.”

“But neither of those is what happened to you?” Ruby guessed.

“Correct. It is very rare for this to happen, well, by accident.”

Ruby blinked, “Are you telling me you got knocked up, by magic, by accident?”

Regina frowned, “I suppose...”

“When? By who?!” Ruby tried to think of who it could be. “Oh god, did the Wicked Witch magic you a green baby?”

Regina’s completely appalled expression cured her of that notion.

“Oh, ewww. Was it Gold?”

Regina matched her disgust, “Most certainly not. Creating life is not the domain of dark magic,” she said very seriously.

“But… Besides the fairies who I’m guessing…” Regina sent her a thunderous look and Ruby instantly backed off that line of thought—not that she’d really thought that was what happened anyways. Everyone knew how Regina felt about the ‘mosquitos’ besides Tink. “Right, but the only light magic user we’ve known is….” Then her eyes got very wide and narrowed in on Regina’s stomach, clearly trying to tell just how far along she was.

Regina’s voice came to her. “I’m five months.”

Ruby had no idea how to tell how far along someone was, so the information was very helpful. Her eyes made their way back to Regina’s face. “Then I’m right, I mean, then it’s possible, that Emma…”

Regina had her blank mask back on, but nodded ever so slightly. “Yes, Miss Swan is the other parent.”

A sudden bolt of clarity hit the younger brunette, “That’s why you don’t want anyone to know. You don’t want Snow to find out.”

Regina stiffened even more and gave another slight nod. Ruby just collapsed in her chair as she tried to process this new twist.

-x-x-x-x-

Nursery

Regina smiled down at her baby before the sounds of hurried feet rushing through the castle reached her ears, reminding her of where she was and why she and her daughter were there. “Now Sophia, it’s time for Mommy to do some magic.”

Sophia simply gurgled as she continued to look up at the witch. The little girl didn’t even blink when her mother was engulfed in plume of purple smoke which cleared to reveal a man in the typical guard uniform. “Alright there, sweetheart?” her mother’s voice asked. Sophia responded with another happy baby noise. “Good girl.”

The pair stepped out of the alcove they’d been in and briskly made their way down the hall. No one paid her any mind, especially since they guessed why she was in this hallway. Sure enough, she walked into the room at the end of the hall to find the castle nursery. She normally could leave Sophia with Ruby, Tink or Granny, but this was going to be it, she knew. On this battle would the whole war turn and they were all needed. The large room and the one next to it were already filled with the children of couples who were both needed to help with the coming assault. A few other parents were still dropping off their children as well. That did not mean Regina was happy about it.

Regina carefully made her way with Sophia over to the children who looked around her daughter’s age. The older woman presiding over that corner was fussing with a little boy and barely managed a nod in Regina’s direction to show she’d seen her. The former queen fought the urge to say something about the fact that the woman had more than one charge and get in a good threat about what would happen if any harm came to her baby girl, but refrained in order to stay under the radar. Luckily, there should be enough children here that Sophia’s identity as well as her own wouldn’t be scrutinized.

She cradled her daughter in her arms, wanting to nuzzle her but aware of her conjured helmet and so she settled for a careful kiss on her forehead. “Be good, my precious girl. Remember Mommy loves you.” She said the words practically against her, voice low, words fast—but recognizably her own. Sophia smiled and reached up, trying to grab her nose, but Regina pulled away and set her down next to another child.

She caught the eye of the other woman, who nodded once more. She shoved her memories of dropping Henry off for the first time at daycare and left without looking back before she changed her mind.

-x-x-x-

Fractures

Regina let out a small cry as threw the glass vial across her workroom. The she collapsed back onto the hard flagstones beneath her, paying no mind to the pain that raced up her knees. In fact, she reveled in it, she deserved it. She wasn’t figuring this out fast enough. It wasn’t working. She was failing. She was never going to get back to the rest of her family. She was never going to see either of them ever again and it would all be her own fault. The newest line of the spell was impossible to fix and the potion hadn’t turn out right.

That wasn’t the only thing throwing off her equilibrium. It was close to Emma’s birthday and Snow had just discovered she was pregnant. The hormones were making her moods go all over the place and it had resulted in the young queen coming to visit her for the first time since Regina had moved out here. Naturally, it had not gone well.

It had been during Sophia’s nap time, the only part of the encounter that had been at all lucky. Snow had started off pleasant enough, but then she just couldn’t leave well enough alone. Did the woman want her to actually get them back to the world with her daughter and grandson in it or did she think that Regina needed to “stop being a coward and leave the house once in a while, maybe meet someone new”? Clearly the younger brunette had no idea what she wanted for her former stepmother or herself, nor was she listening to Miss Lucas’s reports. She seemed to have no real idea what Regina was trying to do. In fact, she seemed caught between thinking Regina was simultaneously trying to leave them all behind, had already figured it out and was refusing to take them to the other world for some unknown reason or that the entire pursuit was hopeless and they should all just move forward with their new lives. She even had the audacity to say the last part with her hands on her stomach. It had taken all Regina had to refrain from bringing the house down around them, Sophia and the delicate spellwork she had laid out in her workroom being the only thing stopping her.

That was when she started sparking and shouting though. She wasn’t entirely sure what all she had said. Something about Snow being pathetic for giving up, probably. She’d definitely said that Snow was a terrible mother if she could forget her daughter so quickly on top of replacing her so easily. She pushed her out the door and forbidden her to return for sure.

The very idea that because she had Sophia she no longer yearned for Henry, that she could live without ever seeing him again, made her physically ill. Truthfully, she knew that Snow did not truly mean she didn’t love and miss Emma, but it still made her blood boil to think of her being treated so, so carelessly. In some ways she even envied Snow’s ability to naively assume everything was fine with the missing pair, to content herself to their best chance. But Regina couldn’t. She just couldn’t.

The anger had helped drive her into her work and she had felt like she was making real progress. Until now.

She let out another strangled cry, pulling on her short locks as silent tears began to drip down her face. She wasn’t cut out for this. The _good_ guys were supposed to save the day and she only knew how to ruin the day. She didn’t have the relentless optimism, the ability to believe everything would work out in the end to sustain her through constant dead ends. Besides, villains didn’t get happy endings. The bittersweet memory of Henry’s response to that very statement only made her weep harder.

She got her back into a corner, wedging herself in, as she curled up into a ball like she used when she was a little girl. She buried her face in her knees and tried to regain her breathing, the main hindrance being that her go-to collection of happy memories revolved around the very people she was letting down.

Then she heard a sound from the other side of the room. Regina had set up a sort of magically reinforced playpen area for Sophia, making sure it was the strongest shield spell she knew and that none of her magical tools were anywhere close to the young child. She didn’t like having her in the workroom, but she certainly couldn’t leave her alone.

Regina picked her head up, glad to see that the music she’d enchanted to play along with the one-way partial muffling spell seemed to have disguised her outburst. Sophia was hitting the barrier and staring at her.

Slowly, Regina unfolded herself from her position on the floor and made her way over to her child. She reached in, pulling Sophia through the barrier. Sophia giggled like she always did, evidently moving through a barrier tickled and it managed to bring a small smile to Regina’s face.

“Mommy!” Sophia quickly reached for Regina’s hair. “Juice!”

Regina let out a slightly choked laugh. “What’s that baby girl? What something to drink?”

“Juice! Juice!” Sophia repeated.

“Very well. Let’s go get your cup.” She carried the girl out of the room, heading for the kitchen. She glanced back at the room, a wave of exhaustion moving through her. She reached down, grasped the doorknob, and firmly closed the door to her workroom behind her. “Why don’t we stop for today, Sophia? No more work. Just you and Mommy.”

“An’ juice!” Sophia agreed with a wide smile.

This time a real laugh was started from the worn-down mother, her daughter’s smile soothing her heart. She reached out and poked Sophia’s nose, “Yes, you and me and some juice.”

-x-x-x-

Testing

“I’m still not sure what you want me to do.”

Regina took a deep breath as she tried to hold back a sigh of exasperation. “I wish for you to help me to test out my theory on the new way to power the curse. It should be possible, in theory, but it has not been tested properly—at least not in any books I can find.”

“But I can’t use magic,” Ruby protested.

“I know!” Regina took another deep breath. “That is the whole point, dear. You don’t need magic to help.”

Ruby held in her own sigh as she realized Regina was going to give her the whole speech over again. She tried to pay better attention this time than she had the first time weeks ago.

“Magic is the ability to access and use innate energy that exists all around us. Normally, that energy comes from yourself or other living things around you and it harnessed to power a spell—the most common price of magic. Now, the curse is a very powerful spell which is why the price was so high last time, the energy I have within me or even that I could draw from around me wasn’t enough. We cannot have another sacrifice this time so I’ve had to find another way to power it.”

“The new method is,” Regina searched for some new way to explain. “It’s like crowdsourcing in the other world.”

“Crowdsourcing?”

“Yes, similar to when scientists, for example, have a very complicated problem and only a supercomputer has the power they need. However, supercomputers are expensive and hard to even simply get time on. So, recently, they have had people volunteer their personal computers and instead of using one very large computer, they use many smaller ones—in terms of computing power.”

“Okay… I guess I remember hearing about that.” Personally, Ruby was surprised the other world was still so close to Regina’s mind to use for an example. She wondered which world the queen preferred, but didn’t ask.

“That’s, in a sense, how I want to power the spell.”

“But I can’t use magic—most people can’t. In fact, isn’t there just you?”

“Yes, but I’m more along the lines of a more powerful than average, but still not a supercomputer in this analogy. I could use a few witches, but I should also be able to use a large number of ordinary people. Between the seed of magic everyone from this land carries within them and the natural energy every living thing has, it should be enough to power the spell.”

“But then why would anyone ever even need to use sacrifices and stuff like that if you could just use all the people around you?”

“No matter how powerful the magic user, you can’t use another person’s magic spark or energy without their consent and focus. It’s also complicated and tedious to, to plug each person’s personal signature into the spell. That is going to be one of the most time consuming parts of the spellwork. It should work though.”

“But it’s never been tested?” Ruby was able to bring this back around to their original topic of conversation.

“Correct, this is all just theory. That is why I wanted you to help me to do a much simpler version right now,” Regina explained.

“What did you have in mind?” Ruby asked.

“I was going to attempt to use your energy and intent to work a simple spell—I would only be the facilitator,” Regina said. “I was thinking a conjuring spell might work best.”

“What would I have to do?”

“I will use your energy to create a piece of clothing that you concentrate on creating. This will mimic using the memories of those who wish to return to Storybrooke to help recreate the town.”

“And you really think this will work?”

“Yes.” Regina’s voice was steady and serious.

“Well, okay then.” The word of the most powerful magic user was good enough for her. “Just picture some clothes that I want?”

“One item would be best.”

“Okay.”

Regina reached over and put a hand on Ruby’s arm and then closed her eyes. Ruby copied her, feeling slightly foolish, but Regina seemed so sure that it gave her some confidence—at least she knew Regina wasn’t trying to set her up for a joke. The former queen took her research to find a way back to Henry and Emma beyond seriously. It was rather intimidating; even Snow and David weren’t this intense about getting back to their family.

She shook herself from those thoughts; she was supposed to be picturing a piece of clothing. Hm, what to pick… She settled on the first thing that came to mind, focusing only on that. Regina’s hand began to feel warm through her sleeve, and she opened her eyes, startled. “I think I felt—” Ruby didn’t finish as purple smoke appeared on the table in front of them. It cleared to reveal a, rather skimpy, red bra.

Regina blinked at it in surprise, “Is that what you were picturing?”

“Uh, yeah. If I’d known it would actually work on the first try I probably wouldn’t have picked my favorite bra from the other world but honestly it was the first thing that popped into my head.” Ruby said, a bit embarrassed, but not enough to blush or stop her from picking the bra up, checking if it was real. It was.

“How do you feel?” Regina asked, her face still intense.

Ruby shrugged, rolling her shoulders, “A little tired, but no worse than like, a quick run from here to the palace would make me. That’s good, right?” Regina was making her nervous with how serious she still looked.

“Yes,” the older woman replied and then the expression on her face changed. She looked a bit younger as her small smile grew, “Yes, it is.”

-x-x-x-x-

By the Window

They had tried a more powerful spell today, “to analyze the difference in the amount energy required when it came from a secondary source”, and it had left Ruby exhausted. She barely remembered laying down on the couch and falling asleep. When she woke up she was alone, although the fire was still going strong and a warm blanket covered her.

Ruby yawned as she pulled it off of her, smiled at the gesture. Regina never said anything or did anything big, but when Ruby started to pay attention, she realized she did do little things. Ruby knew now that she was one of the standoff-ish brunette’s very few friends.

She stood with a stretch, wondering how long she’d been asleep and where Regina had gotten to. She silently padded through the room and down the hall. It only took a minute with her nose to find Regina on the balcony worked into the roof that Ruby suspected she’d added herself with magic. It was at the back of the house and looked out over the palace orchards.

Ruby could hear Regina’s low voice and so she crept up as quietly as she could. She waited inside the doorframe so she could see that Regina was holding Sophia in her arms as mother and daughter looked up at the sky.

“…called the Cat,” Regina was saying. “According to legend, he is a wandering constellation, one that occasionally comes down in physical form to aid those he believes to be worthy of it.”

Sophia clapped her hands, “Kitty.”

“Yes.” The adoration was clear in Regina’s voice as her eyes left the beauty above to focus on the beauty in her arms. “Kitty.”

“Mommy? Mama there?”

“No, dear. Mama isn’t in the sky. You know Mama is with Henry in the other world. Don’t you worry though, we will see them soon.”

“P’omise?”

“Of course, sweetie. Your brother and Mama are going to be so excited to meet you. Just wait, I bet Mama will have lots of funny stories to tell and Henry will have gotten another couple of inches taller,” Regina’s voice was wistful and it was obvious she wasn’t really talking to Sophia any longer. “He’ll be studying for school. I hope it won’t have been too long. I don’t want to miss his first day of high school. And I’m certainly not letting your mother teach him how to drive, especially not in that deathtrap she claims is a car. She better be using those cooking skills I gave her because if when we get back, she’s still feeding him pop tarts and french fries for every other meal, she is going to be in lots of trouble.”

Ruby could smell the salt of Regina’s silent tears even as Sophia reached up to tug on a strand of Regina’s hair and touched her wet cheek, bring her back to herself. “Why Mommy sad?”

“It’s alright, sweetie. I just miss them,” Regina’s voice was even softer than before. “Oh, they’re going to love you so much.”

Sophia’s smile grew and she tugged her mother closer, “Love you.”

“I love you too.” Regina returned the hug, wrapping her arms tight around her daughter.

Ruby felt frozen in the doorway. Sure, she suspected that despite Regina’s long and detailed explanation for how Emma’s true love magic made up for the fact that they weren’t each other’s true loves and obvious they didn’t have feelings for each other, that Regina at least did feel something for the blonde. It was another thing to hear the longing and fondness so clearly in her voice as she talked to her daughter about the missing members of their family.

The feeling that she was an outsider, spying on a very private moment intensified. She was about to go back downstairs when Sophia looked up and saw her standing there. “Aunt Ruby!”

There was nothing to do but walk forward, hoping she could play it off like she just got here. Regina turned around as she came over. “Miss Lucas. I see you’ve woken up.”

“Hey, yeah. Thanks for the blanket.” Ruby crossed the few yards quickly, stopping in front of the pair. Regina looked as she always did, but Ruby knew now not that really had nothing to do with how she actually felt. “Hey, Sophia, how are you?”

“Good! Mommy tell me ‘bout the stars!” Sophia answered eagerly.

“Really? That sounds really cool,” Ruby replied with a smile.

“How do you feel, dear? I know the spell left you tired but beyond that…” Regina asked.

“I’m good, more like I just had a really nice nap. And I felt mainly, like, sleepy tired, not you know about to faint tired. And it doesn’t look like I’ve been asleep more than a couple hours so… Success?”

Regina studied her for a few seconds, clearly wanting to be sure Ruby was telling the truth before smiling. “Yes, success. I expect you are hungry?”

Ruby cracked a relieved smile. “I could definitely eat.”

“Dinner!” Sophia exclaimed excitedly, squirming in her mother’s arms until Regina set her down. “Food!”

Regina chuckled lightly. Ruby didn’t need to ask as they were obvious both thinking that she had Emma’s stomach. “Come on then, Miss Lucas. Before she tries to eat all the ingredients by herself.”

-x-x-x-x-


	3. Reunited

Dreams to Reality

Emma looked up from the TV to the door, brow furrowed. Who could be knocking at this time of day? Emma herself was only home because she had finished up a case late last night. The middle of the afternoon on a Friday wasn’t a typical day for people to be stopping by, not that anyone ever really stopped by at all. Still, she stood, muting the sound and double checking the clock to make sure it was too early for Henry to be home from school and have forgotten his key. It was, so she walked over and opened the door.

She wasn’t sure who she was expecting, but the put-together, and gorgeous, brunette woman on the other side was definitely not it. Emma blinked as she took in the woman in a deep purple blouse under a black blazer and black pants, a strange feeling of deja vu overcame her. Emma felt pleased to see her, as if she was a familiar old friend and yet she had no memory of her. She also felt, safer? No, more alive perhaps, just being in this woman’s presence. She resisted the urge to shake her head at the strangest feelings the woman was making swirl around inside her.

Luckily, Emma was so distracted by her own sudden and confusing feelings that she didn’t notice the strange look that flashed on the other woman’s face as she took in Emma, in her tight jeans and black vest over a white short sleeved shirt. Otherwise, she would no doubt have been even more confused by the strange mix of pain, hope, and longing that flitted over the brunette’s face before being replaced with a polite expression, the emotions only still visible in her deep brown eyes.

“Hello?” Emma asked, suddenly feeling like she had been staring for a while, although it had in fact only been a few seconds.

The woman flashed a practiced smile, “Hello, my name is Regina Mills.” She paused for a split second there, before continuing briskly, “I just moved in upstairs and I wanted to meet some of my new neighbors.”

Emma mentally raised an eyebrow, rather amused. Regina was definitely new if she was trying to get to know her neighbors in New York City, but Emma had heard there was an apartment in the building up for sale. “Oh, well, it’s nice to meet you then. I’m Emma, Emma Swan.”

A small movement and sound drew her attention away from the brunette’s captivating eyes, and she was startled to see a little girl standing there, her hand curled in Regina’s pant leg. “Mommy, present.” Her voice was small but sure, her eyes perfect replicas of Regina’s own. She stared up at Emma, half hiding behind Regina.

“Hello there,” Emma greeted, her voice friendly as she leaned down slightly. “And what’s your name?”

“Sophia Mills,” the girl said, moving a bit further out from behind her mother. Emma could now see that her wavy hair was a couple of shades lighter than her mother’s and down to her shoulders. The girl looked to be about two or three and was wearing a cute lilac dress. “Nice t’ meet you.”

Emma smiled and the girl smiled back before looking up at her mother again. “Mommy,” she repeated, her voice more insistent, “present.”

Regina quickly schooled her face back into a, hopefully, more casual expression, ruthlessly suppressing the feelings that arose from Emma and Sophia finally meeting. “Thank you for reminding me, dear,” she said to Sophia before her eyes returned to Emma’s. “I made lasagna, as a welcoming gift.”

Emma’s eyes lit up as they settled on the glass dish in Regina’s hands. Man, she was really off her game if she missed the kid _and_ the food. What was it about this woman? She pushed the confusion aside and smiled broadly, “Well, then you’re definitely welcome in my place, although I’m pretty sure other people are supposed to bring _you_ housewarming gifts. Why don’t you come in and we can share it? I can give you a rundown on the surrounding blocks and who a few of the other people in the building are at least.”

Regina smiled. “Thank you. That sounds wonderful.”

Emma stood aside so that Regina and her daughter could come in. As Emma shut the door behind them, she suddenly realized why Regina looked so familiar—she was the woman from her dreams—literally. The images from her mind, replicated in her sketchpad, suddenly connected with this living, breathing woman in front of her and Emma had to work hard to control her gasp.

What did this mean? How could she actually be real? Why was she at her apartment? Why now?

Emma had no answers and a million more questions. She gathered the remains of her composure, she needed to act casual and not scare Regina away. Who knew what the dreams meant, but maybe Regina knew and that meant she needed to find out as much as she could about the mysterious brunette.

She told herself that was the most reasonable course of action and had nothing to do with her own attraction and draw to the other woman. Emma took a deep breath and turned to see Regina looking at a picture of her and Henry. She smiled and said, “My son and I a few months ago.”

Regina didn’t turn but continued to look at the picture, “He’s a very handsome boy. How old is he?”

“Twelve,” Emma said, moving past them and missing Regina’s now glistening eyes to lead them into the kitchen, her own thoughts circling too frantically to notice the other was in a similar state.

“I must confess I knew you had a son,” Regina admitted. “That’s why I decided to approach you first.” She reached a hand out to run her fingers through her daughter’s hair—comforting herself.

“Ah, I get that.” Sometimes it felt safer to approach another parent. Somehow, glancing at the little girl helped Emma to regain a firmer grasp on reality. Her literal dream woman was an actual person, she reminded herself, with a kid of her own, she was real. “Well, I‘m certainly glad you chose us, if the smell of that lasagna is anything to go by.”

They sat at the table, Regina setting down the lasagna. “Would you mind if we waited to heat that up? My son’ll be home soon and I’m sure he’ll want some. I’d try to save some for him, but it smells so good I’m afraid I’ll just forget and eat it all.”

Regina smiled, “I brought it for you, you can have it whenever you’d like.”

“Mommy?” Sophia asked.

“Yes, sweetie?”

“Can I draw? Or TV? Or both? Talk boring if no food,” the little girl explained.

Emma laughed, “I know that feeling.”

Regina merely smiled indulgently at her daughter, “Alright.” She drew a pad of colored construction paper out of her purse and a baggy of crayons. “Here you go,” she paused right before she handed them over though, “Where do we color?”

“On the paper,” Sophia answered in a sing-song voice that implied she’d memorized that particular answer, reaching for the art supplies. “Nowhere else.”

“Good girl.” Regina let the little girl take the drawing materials from her.

Sophia accepted them eagerly before turning to Emma. Once more, she looked rather shy as she asked, “May I watch your TV?”

Emma smiled at how carefully the girl focused on using all of her words. “Sure.”

The brunette smiled before bounding off. Regina listen for a moment, hearing the TV turn on and made sure it was an appropriate show. She focused her eyes back on Emma, suddenly doubting whether she should really try to break the curse. Emma seemed happy, content, and after the disaster of Neverland and Pan…. Besides, she knew the blonde didn’t know how to handle all the magic stuff. Was she just breaking the curse for her own selfish reasons? Then she thought of Henry, her son, and how Emma had looked when she explained her plan for their memories. Emma had longed for her family her whole life, she would want to be reunited with them and so would Henry. Henry would want to remember the rest of his family today. She remembered the look in his eyes, both other their eyes, as they drove away. He would want to come back, come home.

She focused back as Emma began to mention some of the other people who lived in the building as well as her favorite places to eat in the area. They were in the middle of discussing the school system when the sound of a door opening caught both of their attentions.

“Kid? Is that you?” Emma called.

“Nope!” Henry’s disembodied voice carried to the kitchen. Regina worked very hard to keep her face still and to stop tears from falling. She hadn’t heard her son’s voice in over three years though and hearing it now made it feel as if no time had passed. “It’s a burglar, come to steal all of your valuables!”

“You’re gonna be disappointed,” Emma joked back. “But the TV’s in the front room!”

“Thanks for the tip!” It only took a moment, Henry stopping to leave his backpack and shoes by the door, for him to make it to the living room. “Um, Ma?” He had clearly spotted Sophia watching the TV. “Why is there a toddler in here?”

Regina could hear his footsteps as he got closer to the kitchen. Only a few seconds passed before a brunet head poked around the corner. The rest of the boy followed, wearing a T-shirt and jeans. It was all Regina could do not to cry at the sight of her baby boy, after all this time, and clutch him close to her.

“Oh,” Henry said as he spotted Regina at the table, then his eyes got wide, as he made the connection even quicker than Emma had, and turned to Emma. “You found her?” he hissed, staring back at Regina.

It was enough to snap Regina out of her daze and she furrowed her brow in confusion. Emma’s own eyes widened and she sent Henry a glare, “This is Regina Mills, she just moved in upstairs and wanted to say “hi”. That’s her daughter in there.” Her tone clearly implied that he should stop talking.

“Oh,” Henry flushed, but continued to study Regina far more closely than he probably should have. “Uh, nice to meet you.”

Regina nodded and couldn’t help the smile that grew on her face, “The pleasure is all mine.” She refused to let the fact that it actually was all hers seeing as he couldn’t remember her take away any of her happiness from this moment.

“Regina here made us some lasagna too,” Emma said, hoping to distract Regina from Henry’s slip-up.

“Really? Sweet,” Henry said, the prospect of food successful in distracting him at least. “Thanks.”

Sophia choose that moment to run in, darting to Regina’s chair, evidently not wanting to miss out on all the excitement. “Hello there, sweetie.”

Sophia smiled before leaning up to whisper something in her mother’s ear that the other pair couldn’t hear. They took the momentary distraction of their guests to silently communicate “how is the woman from our dreams here?” and “I have no idea but don’t scare her off”.

“Not yet, dear,” Regina said, loud enough for the Swans to hear. “Soon. Why don’t you go finish watching the TV while Miss—Emma,” she corrected herself “and I talk.”

“P’omise find when know?” Sophia asked.

“Promise,” Regina answered with a kiss on the little girl’s nose.

Emma only had a brief second to wonder why the interaction between mother and daughter seemed to warm her heart so much, beyond that it was adorable, when Sophia ran over and grabbed Henry’s hand. “Come Hen’y,” the little girl said, “TV.”

Henry was only caught off guard by the confident little girl for a moment before he let himself get dragged off, a grin on his face and one last significant look to his mom.

Emma still looked flustered and while Regina was definitely curious about the “found her” comment, she decided not to push it immediately. They clearly didn’t remember her and yet, they could tell she wasn’t a total stranger, which was a good sign that Emma wouldn’t kick her out when she tried to explain. Hopefully.

“He seems like a very smart young man,” she said instead, working hard to keep the wistfulness out of her voice and the part of her that wanted to follow the kids and hug her lost son to her.

Emma grinned, “Thanks, he is. All my influence of course.”

“I see,” Regina’s eyes twinkled.

Emma winked before asking, “Would you like anything to drink?”

“Coffee?” Their plane had arrived last night and so sleep had not come easily, not when she knew the rest of her family was just below her—waiting.

“Sure thing,” Emma moved to start the coffee pot, rather desperate for some caffeine herself. Too bad it wasn’t later. Then they could have gotten something stronger.

Regina internally debated with herself. Should she bring up Henry’s curious words? They most certainly had to do with the curse. She doubted she would get a better opening. Emma was probably as relaxed as she would get. “What did your son mean?”

Emma flinched slightly, “What do you mean?”

Somehow the blonde didn’t even have to turn around to know Regina was giving her a very skeptical look.

“Really, dear?” the brunette’s voice was very dry.

Emma turned around with a sheepish smile, coffee pot on and no longer a good distraction. When Regina merely raised her eyebrows for Emma to explain, the blonde ran her hand through her hair before holding her hands out in a placating manner. “Look, I promise we’re not crazy,” she began.

Regina swallowed what surely would have been a slightly hysterical laugh. Wasn’t she the one supposed to be saying that? “A most reassuring opening line.”

Emma made a face at the tease before looking rather nervous again. “I’m just not sure how to put this without sounding…”

“Crazy?” Regina supplied.

“Right.”

“Well, I happen to be rather open-minded, dear. You seem sane enough to me.” The brunette looked her over, as if measuring her. “In fact, if anything, you seem like the type who would not believe in anything too outlandish.”

“I am! Or I’m not!” Emma hated negative statements like that. “What I mean is I normally need good evidence to believe in anything weird, but… I suppose I do have proof so…”

“So…?”

“Here’s the thing, you’ve never been to New York, right?”

“Not until yesterday.”

“Okay, good. So here’s the thing I, and my son, well.” She heaved a frustrated sigh. “We’ve been having these dreams.” Regina still looked curious and nonjudgmental, if pretty confused, so Emma continued. “And these dreams are always about the same person. And we both started having these dreams and we didn’t even realize the other was dreaming about the person too. But since we never talked about it, how could we be dreaming about the same person we’ve never even met? Right?”

Regina nodded to show she was listening, her face still casually polite. Inside however, she felt her hopes rising. Could Emma be implying what she thought she was?

“Okay, well, I never would have brought this up to a person I just met, or anyone at all really. But… The person we’re dreaming about? Is you.” Emma felt better having told Regina what was going on, about having told anyone actually, until her nerves began to get the better of her again. God, she sounded like a crazy person. She totally just ruined everything.

Emma and Henry shouldn’t be able to remember anything about any of them. Even without her curse, the dissolving of the old one should have taken care of that. But both of them remembered _her_. She answered once she was sure her voice was as close to normal as she could make it, “Me?” She let the surprise filter out clearly, but hoped her inner joy stayed inside. They were dreaming of her, not Snow or her prince or anyone else from the town, but _her_. “Are you sure? Couldn’t it just be someone who looks like me?”

Emma shook her head firmly. “I hadn’t realized when I first met you but then I did. Henry just confirmed my suspicions, though I wish he’d kept it to himself for a bit longer. Oh! I can prove it to you, if you like?”

Regina raised her brows, “How on earth could you do that?”

Emma was relieved that the brunette didn’t seem angry or fearful or even shocked. Surprised, skeptical, and curious, yes, but she hadn’t dismissed her, or began edging towards the door, yet. “Here, just wait.” She swiftly left the room to grab her notebook.

Regina stayed in her seat, trying to decide what to do with this development. It was a good development for sure, anything that might give the truth some weight was helpful. It was very nice that Emma, through Henry, was the one who had brought up the fact that something was not quite right. This should make her job easier, as long as she played her cards right. For now she let her mind wonder about what Emma could be bringing.

She didn’t have to wait long. Emma rushed back into the room carrying a red notebook. Regina furrowed her brow when Emma set it down in front of her. “Open it.”

Regina did so, surprised to find that it was a sketchbook, not a normal notebook. Then her mouth fell open as she saw a fairly well rendered, pencil sketch of her face. “Oh my.” She turned the page and there was another drawing, profile this time. The next page had her from a distance, sitting beside the bare skeleton of a window.

“See! It is you,” Emma said, half triumphantly, half freaked out. “How is that possible?! It was strange enough when I thought I just kept dreaming of some random woman for months, but then I found out Henry was too. And now you’re here! What the hell is going on?”

Regina pulled her eyes away from the drawings with regret. “You’re not going crazy,” she told the blonde reassuringly. She closed the book with a sigh and stood up so she could stand in front of Emma by the counter.

“Then what’s going on!” Emma asked before her eyes narrowed. “You know what’s going on, don’t you?”

“Not exactly,” Regina hedged. “But yes. I do know some of what’s going on.” Emma gave her a look the demanded she share what she knew. Regina sighed, her face showing how sad and tired she was when it had previously only been evident in her eyes. “We have met, you just can’t remember.”

“When?” Emma demanded, it seemed a lot more likely that they had met, the woman was just too familiar, especially when the other option was that her and Henry were now psychic and having prophetic dreams or something.

Regina dodged the question, “You forgot a few months ago.”

“When the dreams started,” Emma confirmed. “But I still don’t understand how both of us could just forget you like that.”

“It’s not just me,” Regina said, warily gauging Emma’s reaction. “Think hard about your memories before that time a few months ago, before you moved here.”

Emma frowned but did as she was asked. It was harder than she thought, when she went to think of the past from more than a year ago her mind sort of, glazed over it and she found herself almost redirected. She frowned harder, really concentrating. After a few seconds, Emma paled. “They’re all…weird. They don’t… They’re vague and don’t quite fit or something. I can’t…” She thought harder trying to remember exactly where she and Henry had lived two years ago. The name of the city came to her right away, Boston. That felt right and yet, she couldn’t remember what their apartment looked like or what the name of Henry’s teacher was, the over all facts were there but she could access any _details_.

“What is going on? What’s wrong with us?” Now she was scared, how had she not noticed this? Henry. This must affect him too. Were they sick? Had someone done this to them? What the hell was going on? Her eyes locked onto Regina’s desperately. “Tell me right now!”

Regina didn’t take the anger personally, frankly she was surprised it took so long for Emma to get there. “Something happened and your memories were affected. It took me time to figure out how to fix them and then find you. But I have and I can.”

“You… What…” Emma felt so overwhelmed. “But what happened? What could mess with my mind like this?”

“I promise I would explain, if I thought the explanation would make any sense at all to you. But without your memories, none of it would.” Regina looked at her pleadingly. “You must believe me. Am I lying?”

Emma sucked in a breath, she could tell that was an allusion to her lie detecting ability. She didn’t have to check though, “I can tell that you think you’re telling the truth. But that doesn’t mean…”

“Give me a chance to try to fix this first,” Regina cajoled. “After the first two attempts I promise I’ll try to explain even though I don’t think it will help without your true memories.”

“I…” Emma felt trapped and so confused. She wanted to tell Regina to leave, and forget this whole mess, even if it did mean her memories weren’t quite right. Her life was good. Then she remembered Henry. As long as this affected him, she needed to deal with it. “I guess…”

Regina smiled, relieved Emma was cooperating. “Thank you.”

“What do you want to do though? Medicine or something?” She narrowed her eyes, “You don’t wanna try and open up my head or anything, do you?” The completely scandalized look on Regina’s face gave her her answer. She would have laughed if she hadn’t been so freaked out.

“Of course not!” Regina frowned at her disapprovingly. “Brain surgery? Honestly.”

“Alright, alright.” Emma wasn’t sure how the brunette glaring at her and looking at her like she was a complete moron was comforting, but it was. “So what do you wanna do then?”

“Well,” Regina pulled her face back to a neutral expression, but Emma saw the momentary flash of nervousness. “The first thing to try is quick and more similar to trying to, to jolt your memories back with a reminder.”

Emma furrowed her brow, “You mean like with pictures or something?”

“Or something,” Regina said with a nod. She figured if it failed, she could excuse it with the lie that they had been in a relationship—an easy lie to work with until Emma’s memories were restored. She would try it with Henry, if its failure wouldn’t completely shatter her heart. Failure with Emma would only split it in two.

“Alright…” Emma agreed skeptically. Truthfully she didn’t think something so simple sounding would work, but she felt rather inclined to do whatever Regina suggested. She felt a connection with the mysterious woman and she did seem to know what was wrong. Besides, it’s not like Emma herself had any real clue about anything that was going on.

Regina stared into green eyes that were only a foot or so away, the pair having moved closer as they talked. She wasn’t sure this would work, because things never worked out like this for her. Evil Queen’s didn’t get happily ever afters that began with the breaking of a curse with true love’s kiss. Emma’s story should end like that, but Regina wasn’t sure yet of her place in it.

Her eyes darted down to Emma’s lips as she tried to gather the courage to do what she came to do. Then her mind flashed to Henry and Sophia. Sophia, who’s existence was really the only reason she thought that maybe, she might be Emma’s true love. That Emma might love her back.

So, with that thought in mind, Regina leaned in and gently pressed her red lips to Emma’s pink ones. Emma’s eyes blinked once in surprise before closing as she gave herself over to the feeling of the beautiful brunette’s lips. One of the blonde’s hands was braced on the counter while the other reached to grip Regina’s shoulder.

Now that she knew Emma wasn’t going to reject her kiss, Regina pressed more firmly against her, mouth opening slightly as her hand cupped Emma’s jaw. Emma was helpless to do anything but mimic her, already lost to the taste of the older woman. It was in that moment that a white-gold light burst from them, filling the apartment, and Emma’s head began to fill with lost memories.

-x-x-x-

Restored

 

Emma gasped, the hand that had been on the counter was now clutching her head while the other tightened its grip on Regina’s shoulder to what must have been a painful degree. Regina showed no concern for herself though, only looking at Emma with intense, concerned brown eyes. “Emma, are you alright?”

“Regina?” Emma managed, thoughts flooding her mind and leaving her very confused about what was happening, conflicting memories swirling. She was able to latch onto something though. She definitely remembered Regina.

Regina barely managed not to suck in breath at the way Emma said her name, the depth was back—something that had been lacking throughout their whole encounter—and recognition. Emma remembered.

She opened her mouth to say something, to try to determine the side effects from the memory spell breaking when the sound of running footsteps and indistinct words caught her attention. At the edge of her vision she saw a brown haired boy slid into view, quite literally in his socks, and nearly hit the doorframe. He righted himself, eyes darting around wildly before landing on her.

“Mom!” Before she knew it he crashed into her, arms wrapping tightly around her waist as he buried his head against her. Emma leaned back against the counter, the pounding in her head lessening just in time for her to retract her arm from Regina’s shoulder. Regina’s arms quickly wound around her son, not even moving an inch despite his sudden, rather forceful hug. He continued to repeat “mom” as she leaned down, kissing his forehead. “Oh, Henry. _Henry_.”

Any other time, Henry would have protested at how tight his mom was hugging him, but this time he was hugging her back just as fiercely. He had missed her, he realized, even when he hadn’t known it. He breathed in, her scent filling him with the feeling of safety and home.

Emma closed her eyes as her memories, of which she now had an extra set of, tried to straighten themselves out, causing a very bad headache in the process. Still, she could remember the bare basics—that she had given Henry up at birth, that Regina was his mother. The second curse. How was she even here? “Regina?” she asked, so confused.

Henry leaned back as Regina met Emma’s eyes, seeing all the questions swirling in their depths. She smiled back down at Henry, “Why don’t we sit down so I can explain everything?”

Henry nodded eagerly and Emma nodded gratefully. “How did you get here? What happened? I thought you were all sent back to the Enchanted Forest,” Henry seemed to be asking every question that popped into his head while all Regina could do was smile indulgently at him.

“One at a time,” she said as they sat down, Henry next to her and Emma across from them. “We were all sent back to the Enchanted Forest, but we managed to use magic to reset the curse and bring Storybrooke back.”

“Reset the curse? Again? How? Did everyone else lose their memories?”

“I modified it so that no one lost their memories,” she reassured him. “And only those who wanted to come back to Storybrooke came so the town is a bit smaller. But your grandparents and most of their friends decided to come. We had to wait a bit to make sure the town line could be crossed safely, but as soon as we were sure, I came to come bring you both home.”

Emma took a sip of coffee as she tried to think. Parents. She had parents again. A home.

“Really? That’s awesome!” Henry was almost vibrating with excitement and gave his brunette mother another little hug. And began asking about more specific people while Regina confirmed who had and hadn’t come over. She watched Emma out of the corner of her eye, noticing the blonde’s pale pallor and the hand that kept rubbing her forehead.

Finally Emma’s eyes met her own and she could see that the younger woman was floundering under the weight of everything and she could see other questions, questions Henry hadn’t thought to ask yet in her eyes.

“Henry, would you do me a favor?” Regina asked.

Henry looked up at her, brow furrowed in an obvious question.

“I need to talk to Ms. Swan about some things.” ‘Adult’ things being the obvious implication. “So would you mind calling your grandparents to let them know that you both have regained your memories? I told them I would when I succeeded and they’d be thrilled to hear from you.” She gave him a genuine smile.

“And you don’t want to talk to them if you don’t have to,” Emma added wryly, trying to find her balance again.

Regina’s eyes flicked to the blonde, her smile growing slightly at the woman finally sounding more like herself. “I don’t know what you could be implying.”

Henry rolled his eyes at the banter, but his smile stayed too, recognizing that they were teasing. Then he studied his brunette mother closely as he thought over what she was asking, “Is something wrong and you just don’t want to tell me yet?”

“No,” Regina protested as she focused back on her son, meeting his eyes squarely. “The town’s still trying to pull itself together, but no one is in any danger, at least no more than they usually are. I promise I will answer any question you have, truthfully. We just need a moment to talk first. Please.”

Henry’s eyes moved to Emma, worried he was going to be left out, but believing his mother’s sincerity. Emma smiled back, even if it was a little weak. “Yeah, kid. It’s fine. Talk to your grandparents, spare your mom the annoyance, and then we’ll all talk.”

Henry frowned, but it was more due to how pale his blonde mother looked. He hoped she was okay, the sudden return of their memories seemed to have been harder on her than him. It was strange, but he felt lingering protective feelings towards her. While cursed, he’d grown up with her only and for all that he remembered their life being fairly easy, he now had a much broader picture of what life was like for typical single mothers. He had found himself thinking about life as him and his mom against the world in a way that he never had with his brunette mother simply because Storybrooke was so sheltered and Regina always seemed to in control over everything. Now, even though he knew he hadn’t lived with Emma all his life, he found himself still feeling protective and worried for her, his adoptive mother too. Maybe it was just because he was older. He still didn’t like how pale Emma looked since the curse broke.

He glanced back at his adoptive mother, fleetingly wondering if leaving them alone might make Emma worse, but decided he only saw concern in Regina’s gaze. “Alright,” he gave in before giving a sheepish grin, “I’d really like to talk to Gram and Gramps.”

“Wonderful,” Regina said. She reached into her purse and pulled out her phone. She pulled up Snow’s number, which for some reason was still under ‘Blanchard, MM’ in her contacts. “Thank you very much, my dear.”

Henry grinned and took the phone. They could just hear him say, “Gram?” as he left the room.

Once she was sure he was gone, Emma slumped in her chair, pressing her hand to her eyes, looking worn.

“Ms. Swan?” Regina asked tentatively, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m fine,” Emma said automatically, moving her hand from her eyes to run her fingers through her hair. “My head just feels a bit too full, you know?”

“I can imagine.”

“Wait,” Emma said as something occurred to her, “Why isn’t Henry affected like this? I mean I’m glad his head’s fine, but…”

“There are two main reasons for that. Firstly, Henry is a child and children are more…elastic,” Regina settled on, “when it comes to these kind of things. They bounce back well. Secondly, I tweaked his memories, reshaped them if you will. I had to give you ten years worth of new memories. That will obviously result in more…confusion. Especially since I had to do it with the mindset of it never being undone.”

Emma nodded, “Yeah, that makes sense. So…” She really was grateful Regina had gotten them a chance alone where she could digest this shift in her world without having to worry about putting up a strong front for Henry. The constant twists of the past years were surely going to give her a stroke at this rate. She wasn’t sure what to say or ask now that she had the chance. She was definitely avoiding how exactly her memories were restored for the moment, especially given how normal Regina was acting—she was half convinced she’d imagined it. “Everyone really is okay?”

“Yes, dear,” Regina reassured her. “Some people chose to remain in the Enchanted Forest, but most came back to the reestablished Storybrooke. Your parents are fine and very eager to see you. I had to talk your mother out of being the one to come find you and after that she was even considering sending Hook.”

“What?” Emma asked, laughing. “Really?”

“Really. Neither of them even really had a plan of how to find you or what to say once they did. I believe your parents thought their strange affinity for finding each other would guide them to you and Hook was going to use some compass. Your mother even seemed to think that knocking on your door and just telling you the truth would work.” She shook her head in disgust.

“Seriously?” Emma asked, eyebrows raised as she scoffed. “All that would have gotten was the door shut in her face. Although I should have been more suspicious of even your approach—no one actually wants to get to know their neighbors in New York City.”

Regina smirked at that.

“But really I think it was…” Emma paused, as if finally connecting two disparate thoughts and Regina mentally prepared herself for the upcoming questions, the real reason she had sent Henry out of the room. “It was the kid that convinced me to let you in,” Emma finished her thought. “Who is she? How did…. What, did you like, borrow someone’s kid?” She was clearly pulling for a joke with the last suggestion, trying to find an explanation that made sense, but it fell a little flat.

Regina gave her a stern look, “I did not take someone else’s child, Ms Swan.” Emma cracked a small smile at that, glad Regina was still unable to resist rising to the bait—at least some things hadn’t changed. “I… This is why I asked…” She didn’t finish, but Emma understood what she meant and braced herself for whatever the answer was going to be. “I didn’t lie about Sophia. She is my daughter.”

“What? How?” Emma asked immediately, surprisingly unsurprised by the news. Truthfully—beyond the fact it would have been very hard to get a little kid to act like that without the kid being an acting prodigy—the little girl was just too much like Regina for them to not to be mother and daughter. “You didn’t like, get a new kid because Henry…”

“What! No, of course not!” Regina was completely appalled at the idea of replacing Henry and it reassured Emma completely. A tiny part of her had still been unsure before the new memories, that Regina just wanted a kid, not necessarily Henry. She was just so used to thinking of her old foster parents, the ones who wanted a kid for a meal ticket, not for the kid themselves or even her first family, who’d given her back. The memory crisis she was having was making those memories, the ones that hadn’t been changed at all, stronger in her mind, seeming to be the most real and it was coloring her judgment. She couldn’t help but marvel at how lucky Henry had been to get a real mother.

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Emma said gently, nearly reaching out to put a hand on Regina’s. “I shouldn’t have asked.”

Surprisingly, that seemed to work as Regina calmed herself down, “It’s alright, I should have expected it to appear… Anyway, no. What you first must understand is that time passed differently in this world than the old world.”

“What’d you mean?”

“I mean that, while it has only been a year since you and Henry last saw us, it has been longer for those of us sent back to the Enchanted Forest.”

Emma digested that. “How much longer?”

Regina hesitated, “Around three years.”

“ _Three_ _years_!” Emma’s eyes were wide with shock.

“Yes, I’m afraid it took a great deal of time for me to figure a way to get everyone back here without unpleasant side-effects. Crafting such a large, powerful, and delicate spell takes time, and before that there was the problem of Elphaba… Since we returned, we needed to settle the town and locate you. Then we needed to make sure we could cross the line and who should go,” Regina let out a sigh, resisting the urge to rub her forehead in memory of all the headache that had entailed. The whole process had been exhausting.

“Wow,” Emma could barely believe Regina, everyone, had gone to all this trouble just for her—well, she supposed it was for Henry. That made a bit more sense, but still, she couldn’t help but briefly think of what just happened (which she was definitely not dealing with at the moment) and that maybe at least some of that effort was to get her back too. “I can’t believe it’s been so long for you. Actually, I can’t believe you’ve let Henry out of your sight. To talk to my mother of all people.”

“Yes well, there is your original question still to be dealt with and I’m not sure… Sophia is my daughter, but I didn’t… I gave birth to her,” Regina finally admitted.

Emma’s eyes went wide. “Wha…?” She had no idea how to respond to that, no idea why she felt so crushed (which was a lie because she did). “But she’s at least two years old. How long after…” How long after you lost our son (lost us) did you find a new family?

“Actually, although I did not know it at the time, I was already pregnant when we were sent back and you two had your memories replaced.”

Regina was clearly still nervous, and the way she was talking was strange, like she was explaining around something. It was making Emma more nervous herself, like this wasn’t the most shocking part and that was still to come. Then her face screwed up in confusion, “Before? But we were on Neverland and before that you had just been—” She stopped herself before she said the word “tortured” but it hung in the air between them. Suddenly Emma was even more in awe of Regina and all she had done for their son at that horrible island so soon after that. They had never even had a moment to breathe after it all went down and now that she did… Wow.

“Yes, quite. I… Sophia was not conceived through… traditional methods,” Regina said, a slight flush on her cheeks.

“What are you even trying to say?” Emma was too confused to even follow the brunette’s cryptic words and couldn’t hold the question burning in the back of her mind any longer. “Who’s the father?”

Regina looked hesitant once more, something that still freaked Emma out because of how infrequently Regina hesitated, before saying, “Sophia doesn’t have a father.”

“What? Of course, she does,” Emma brushed off, now almost offended Regina was trying to keep this from her. “Even Henry technically has a father, for all that Neal doesn’t deserve the title.”

Regina shook her head. “No,” she said firmly. “Sophia quite literally doesn’t have a father. She wasn’t conceived because I slept with anyone. She was conceived through magic.”

“What? Are you saying you magically got yourself pregnant? Because then how could you not have known…?”

Regina finally gave in to her frustration, “For goodness sakes, dear! I said she didn’t have a father, not that she didn’t have another mother!”

The significant, if slightly frustrated, look Regina gave her, coupled with that statement, was finally enough for Emma to realize what the brunette was getting at because there’s only one person Regina had been making magic with. Emma went pale, her mouth falling open.

Regina softened at the blonde’s shock, pulling herself back together, and continued her explanation in a calm voice. “When we disabled the trigger, our magic combined in a very unique way and sent out a blast when we finished. Your magic is that of true love and it is the most powerful in all the lands. This, occurrence, is not without precedent, although normally it requires significantly more… intent for it to happen. But yes. I’m afraid that your magic and mine managed to create a child, Ms. Swan.”

Emma let out a slightly hysterical laugh, but mainly seemed to be concentrating on her breathing. It was funny how, despite how completely ridiculous this whole thing sounded, she believed every word that just came out of Regina’s mouth. “You know, I figured being a girl would stop be from having any kids I didn’t know about and yet twice, apparently, I’ve had a kid show up at my apartment and turn out to be mine.”

Regina smiled at that, “Yes, the universe does seem to enjoy irony. I know this is a great surprise, trust me. I was very confused when I finally figured out what was wrong with me.” Emma gave another weak laugh at that, not even being able to imagine how that felt, and Regina continued on a bit more confidently, “I wanted to give you some time to process this before telling Henry, because you do have a choice in this.”

Emma narrowed her eyes in confusion, “What’d you mean?”

“I know this was unplanned and I would understand if you did not want to… claim her.” She really wouldn’t, not completely, because she loved her daughter with all her heart, but she knew that Emma feared commitment and being a mother and this was most undoubtedly the strangest thing that had ever happened to the blonde in her whole life—wardrobe and world jumping and Henry showing up at her door included—and she knew that if Emma wasn’t fully committed that it would be best not to try, that that would hurt the most in the long run. “You don’t need to, if you don’t want to. I don’t want to force you to accept even more responsibility than you feel you… I was a single mother before and I have been again, but I also want you to know that if you want to be Sophia’s mother, you can.” This needed to be Emma’s choice.

Emma could only stare at Regina; her mind working furiously to process all that she was just told. She had another kid, a daughter. And Regina wanted to know if she wanted that, wanted Sophia, wanted to be a part of her life. She felt like she should be angry about one of the choices she was being offered, offended even, but she wasn’t sure by which one and she wasn’t. She could see the sincerity in Regina’s eyes, that she wasn’t judging, that she really is asking, and that she would accept either choice.

“I…” Her mind filled with the now vague and slightly faded memories of Henry as a baby, Henry as a toddler, Henry as a little kid, and Henry as the kid he still was and she thought about getting to experience that for real and actually living through it with her daughter. Did it terrify her? Yes. Did she want it anyway? “Yes,” she said, fragile but clear. “Yes, I want to be her mother.”

Emma clearly hadn’t realized just how much Regina cared about her answer, but the smile that spread over her face at that answer was nothing short of dazzling. Emma couldn’t help but smile back just as widely back.

-x-x-x-

“Mommy?” Two heads whipped to the doorway to see a little girl peering around the door frame.

Emma could only stare at the girl she now knew was her daughter, but Regina recovered much more quickly and smiled. “Hello, sweetheart. Why don’t you come over?”

Instantly the girl ran over, scrambling into Regina’s lap without a second thought. She twisted in her brunette mother’s arms to look at Emma before looking back to Regina. She went to whisper again, but this time she wasn’t as quiet and Emma could hear her. “Mommy check?”

Regina smiled down. “Yes.”

“Annnd?” Sophia drew out the word and Emma smiled automatically at the cute tone.

“ _Yes_ ,” Regina repeated.

Instantly the girl began to climb out of Regina’s lap. Emma was confused but Regina seemed to have expected it as she let go and helped the girl down. As soon as her feet were on the floor Sophia went over to where Emma was sitting. Emma pushed her chair back in surprise, turning it to face the girl better, still bewildered. Sophia halted in front of her, looking up at the blonde with beautiful brown eyes. She looked a little shy as she peered up, “Hello, Mama.”

Before Emma could even respond Sophia flung herself up in Emma’s arms which instinctively wrapped around her. “Hi,” she said shakily. “Hi, Sophia.” She couldn’t stop the tears that made their way down her face as her daughter buried her face in Emma’s shoulder, thin arms clasped around her neck.

After what felt like hours to her, Emma managed to bring up one hand to wipe away her tears as Sophia squirmed slightly, pulling back to get into a more comfortable position. She settled into Emma’s lap, snuggling against Emma’s chest, hands holding Emma’s free hand. Sophia looked over at her other mother, smiled brightly and pressed against Emma contently.

Emma finished pulling herself together, though she felt better when she finally looked across the table and saw Regina’s own eyes looked a little shinier than usual. “Check?” the blonde asked, remembering her daughter’s words and trying to find something to distract her enough to get her emotional state under control, for all she was pretty sure it was a lost cause. What a day.

Regina cleared her throat. “Yes, I explained to her that I was almost positive you were her mother, but that I wasn’t sure and had to check.” The clear implication that it was part of a back-up plan for the off chance Emma had decided not to be Sophia’s mother. Emma’s hand tightened briefly, instinctively clutching Sophia’s little hands closer at the thought of what she might have missed out on.

“Almost positive, huh?” Emma said with a wry grin. It seemed while she herself had been unsure for moment or two, Regina had known.

Regina’s eyes twinkled, “Yes, well…”

“I know,” Sophia spoke up. “Mommy told me all about you and I knew you were my Mama. Could tell.” She seemed very proud and all knowing, clearly wondering how anyone could have doubted her.

Her mothers laughed. “I know, sweetheart. I remember. Is Henry still on the phone?”

Sophia nodded, “Uh-hu.”

As if summoned, Henry walked in, still talking on the phone. “Alright, here she is,” he faltered briefly, Sophia’s presence finally clicking with his restored memories. Confusion filling him over who the girl that came with his mother could be and why she was now in Emma’s lap. Still he shook it off, handing Regina’s cell over to Emma.

“Hello?” Emma asked as Regina motioned for Sophia to come back to her so Emma could talk easier. Sophia pouted, but Regina simply gave her a stern look and she began to get down. Despite the fact that Emma felt like pouting too, she helped the girl and stood up herself, leaning back against the counter as she watched Henry sit in the chair next to his mom. He moved the chair so close to hers, they were touching. Regina quickly wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Henry closed his eyes as he leaned his head down on her shoulder as a cheerful Sophia manage to sprawl herself across both of their laps, casing identical smiles.

“Emma?” Snow’s hopeful voice cut through the warm feelings spreading through her at the sight of her family and she felt herself smile, she had parents again. “Hey, mom.”

-x-x-x-

Q&A

 

“So…” Henry said, his eyes moving back and forth between Sophia and Regina. “Who…? How…?”

Regina opened her mouth to explain but Sophia beat her to it. The little girl managed to look just like Regina when she was displeased with someone who she suspected of being purposely slow. “Silly,” she said shaking her head. “Sister.” She pointed to herself and then to Henry, “Brother.” Then she smiled.

Henry automatically smiled back before her words clicked in his brain. “What? Really?” he looked to Regina.

Regina nodded. “Sophia is my daughter and your sister.” Henry blinked as he stared at the pair next to him, clearly the idea of his mother having another child or himself gaining siblings had never entered his mind.

“Who’s her dad? Do you have a boyfriend now? Gram didn’t say anything like that.” She had told him about the time gap, given an overview of what had gone on in the Enchanted Forest, explaining that he now had an uncle, but she hadn’t said anything about a sister—which seemed pretty important to leave out now that he thought about it.

Regina’s lips thinned as she pressed them together, “Yes, well…” She sighed, “That would be because your grandmother has never met Sophia and doesn’t know about her.” Henry gaped at his mother. How had she managed to hide the fact that she had a daughter from everyone? “The reason for that has to do with your other question.” She hesitated, looking over at Emma. The blonde was clearly listening to her mother blather on about who knows what, but she seemed to be aware of the brunettes’ conversation too.

She saw the question in Regina’s eyes and nodded her consent. Regina nodded back as Henry continued to frown, having seen his mothers’ silent communication and made more confused by it. “Sophia doesn’t have a father, her other parent is Emma.”

“What?”

Regina almost wanted to laugh at the completely bewildered look on Henry’s face, he hadn’t looked that confused since he was little. Sophia evidently agreed that he looked silly because she giggled and said, in tone that implied the answer should be obvious, “Magic.”

“But… But… you haven’t even seen Ma since before the second curse!”

“I know. It turned out to be a repercussion of when we stopped the trigger and therefore,” Some of Henry’s confusion was clearing and he was following her explanation now, “I was already pregnant when we separated, even if I hadn’t known it at the time.”

“But why keep her a secret?” Henry asked with a glance to the girl who was contentedly drawing in a small notebook with a crayon while seated in Regina’s lap.

Emma took that moment to say goodbye to her mother and walk back over to the table. She sat down, a bit heavily. “I’m pretty interested in hearing that reason too. Because Snow definitely has no idea about her, never mind my involvement.”

Regina sighed, “Sophia?”

“Mommy?” she replied, not looking up from her drawing.

“I need to talk to Mama and Henry about grown up stuff for a few minutes.” Henry turned to Emma at the casual use of “Mama” by his brunette mother. Emma looked surprisingly touched and a bit overwhelmed at how normal Regina had managed to make it sound.

Sophia looked up, “Boring?”

“Yes,” Regina said, a small smile on her face, “I’m afraid so.”

Sophia pouted, “ _Have_ to?”

“Yes, but how about this? You go into the living room and draw us each a pretty picture. That way once all the boring talk is over we have something fun to look at and they can see how talented an artist you are.”

Sophia’s eyes lit up. “Okay!” She scrambled down once more, gave a big grin and then ran off with the notepad and baggy of crayons.

Regina watched her daughter go with a fond smile before turning back to the two remaining, confused, members of her family. She heaved a small sigh, “I did not want to discuss this in front of Sophia, although she is vaguely aware that she is somewhat of a secret, she’s really too young to understand. There are only three people outside of our family who know about Sophia. Miss Lucas, Widow Lucas, and Tinker Bell.”

“And no one else knows about her?” Henry asked.

“At all?” Emma chimed in, skeptical.

Regina nodded, “Technically, a few of the women who ran the castle nursery know Sophia but have no idea who her parents are. I had to leave her in their care when we went to battle and the three I mentioned were needed at those times as well and so they couldn’t watch her then.”

Emma couldn’t even deal with the idea of “battle” and its implication, focusing on Sophia, “But why? Why did you need to keep her a secret?”

“I… I did not want to tell your parents and they would have found out if I told anyone beyond those who needed to know. Miss Lucas found out on her own—her extra senses are harder to fool than sight alone. Tinker Bell is Sophia’s fairy godmother. Widow—,” at the confusion on Henry and Emma’s faces she corrected herself, “ _Granny_ was informed as well, on Miss Lucas’s urgings, to help out. All were bound to secrecy.”

“I was…concerned that they would discover her heritage and try to take her from me,” Regina admitted. “Even if they weren’t able to find out you were her other mother, I thought they might try to take her ‘for her own’ good or some other such nonsense to do with me being an unfit parent in their minds.” She couldn’t seem to resist adding, “Despite the fact that at that time, I was the only one who had actually cared for a child for more than a few hours at a time.”

Henry frowned as he thought this over but Emma spoke up, “I don’t know about that, I mean, you really think they would do that? And how would they even figure out Sophia was mine too? I mean, it’s not exactly something they would expect, right?”

Regina bit back her initial response regarding the golden couple’s behavior, and the one after that, before focusing on the other questions. “The timing would be suspect enough, too close to when we were all in Neverland for them not to be curious about the child’s parentage. It’s not as though I could name anyone who then wouldn’t subsequently expect to be involved in her life or at the very least be able to dispute my claim.”

Emma thought that over and realized the only person Regina could shift the blame to who also wouldn’t have been around to reveal the truth was Gold and nope, not even going there, so she nodded to show she was following along.

“And they could simply have Blue do a spell to find out who the child’s other parent was. In fact, even if I refused to tell them, they could choose to do so anyway, reasoning to themselves that whoever it was deserved to know about the child or some other similar _good_ reason.”

“I still thinking taking a kid, a baby, away from its mom is a pretty extreme reaction for anyone,” Emma said, a fragile look on her face as her real memory of watching them take Henry away came to mind.

Regina didn’t want to push, but she still felt she had to make her point, “You don’t think that your parents wouldn’t do anything to keep another of their grandchildren from being raised by the Evil Queen? Especially without you there? That they wouldn’t have been able to come up with a dozen reasons to justify such an action?”

Emma exchanged a glance with Henry and both came to the obvious conclusion. Yes, they would.

Regina nodded, “Therefore, in order to not have her taken from me, or at the very least prevent an unnecessary fight, I kept her existence a secret. Some days were harder than others, but since I lived by myself in a house a good distance from the main castle and no one ever wanted to visit me,” she shrugged, “It wasn’t too difficult. Miss Lucas only found out because she had been appointed their…liaison with me in regards to plans, magic and the like. We preferred to deal directly with each other as little as possible.”

“But…” Henry frowned, “Wasn’t it hard? Having to take care of a baby all by yourself?”

Regina furrowed her brows. “I’d already had practice,” she reminded him. “What I lacked in modern convenience, I made up for with magic. In some ways it was easier because I did not have to balance my nine-to-five mayoral job—it didn’t matter that my “working” hours became rather…haphazard when she was a baby. Besides, Sophia was able to be quiet for longer periods of time than you ever were.” Henry looked embarrassed at the mention of him as a baby and Regina smiled. “Although when she did want to move, there was nothing that would get in her way. You were both good babies in the end though.”

The memories Emma had been given were already fading slightly, obvious fabrications and yet, altered as they were now, she could tell they were in some sense real. They were Regina’s. Regina had actually given her her own memories of Henry? She stared at the brunette in surprise.

Henry looked thoughtful, his curse memories kicking back in and reminding him of the realities of single parenthood. “I guess.” Mainly though, he wanted to get off the topic of him as a baby and the fact that now _both_ his moms knew embarrassing stories about him. “So how’d you get back? Gram wasn’t really clear about that.”

Regina began a long explanation about the way she had adapted the curse that Henry found fascinating. Emma was interested too, but mainly used the time to readjust to herself. By the time she felt as close to normal as she was going to for a little while, it was time to heat up Regina’s lasagna for supper. Sophia came into the room as soon as the smell began to fill the air and presented them all with their pictures. The family spent the rest of the evening as normally as possible, watching TV and catching up. Regina was just as interested as they were in what had happened with Emma and Henry, and Sophia was quick to chime in with stories of her own.

Finally, early for Henry, but on the late side for Sophia, they decided to send the kids to bed and turn in themselves. It had been a very long day. Henry was more than happy to have Sophia sleepover with him, something even the tired little girl found very exciting. Emma volunteered to take the couch and give Regina her room, for all that Regina gave a token protest that her and Sophia had a whole apartment upstairs to themselves, no one actually wanted to be separated for the night and she gave in quickly.

-x-x-x-

Nighttime Clarity

 

Emma returned to her room after changing into her black tank top and flannel pants, as she had offered it to Regina to change while she straightened up the mess the kids had left behind in the bathroom. She knocked on the door and turned the knob when Regina gave the okay. She came in, spying Regina looking out the window in a silk pajama set. Emma dropped her clothes into her hamper before sitting down heavily on her bed. She closed her eyes, still trying to find normalcy after everything that had happened when something occurred to her, “You’re the reason we have this great place, aren’t you?”

Emma’s arm was over her eyes, but she didn’t need to see Regina’s nod. “Yes, when the first curse broke, I transferred a number of funds that had been in my name, to Henry’s and yours. In case… In case.”

Emma nodded. “I don’t know why I never questioned it. Things I remember, things that had to do with Henry, that really didn’t make sense. That couldn’t have happened if it was the two of us.”

Regina turned around, her eyes wary for Emma’s reaction. Emma looked up, sensing her gaze and patted the bed next to her. Regina glanced around once, but there really wasn’t anywhere else to sit. She didn’t want to crowd Emma, but the blonde was offering.

Regina sat, “I could have given you memories that fit more with what would likely have happened if you hadn’t given him up, but I didn’t want to change Henry. It was selfish, but I wanted some part of him to still be my little boy. So I gave you my memories with a filter, one that made them a bit hazy and made you not want to question them, not think to question them.”

“I don’t mind,” Emma admitted. “I’m glad Henry was still himself. And, to be honest, it almost makes it more real. I can’t believe you actually shared your memories of him with me. I feel better actually knowing what I remember was real instead of more false memories, what actually happened instead of what if’s. You made sure our future was real, and in a way, keeping Henry’s childhood as close to what it was as possible, made our past a bit more real too. One set of false memories instead of two.”

The couple sat in silence, but it was a comfortable one as each took the time they needed to sort out their thoughts. “I can’t imagine how finding out you were pregnant by magic, or whatever even happened, went.”

Regina chuckled lightly, “Yes, well. I admit it was a unique experience. I thought I was just sick, although I didn’t have much morning sickness—just headaches and magic flare-ups mostly. Those were easily attributable to other things, such as emotional instability and insomnia. I didn’t realize something else might be wrong until one day when I did get sick and realized I was showing slightly.”

Emma furrowed her brow, recalling her own experiences, “You didn’t realize until you were showing? Geez, but what about…I mean, didn’t you realize something wasn’t coming each month?”

Regina pressed her lips together, “Another reason I never suspected anything along those lines is because, aside from Sophia, I am unable to have children. My monthlies stopped when I was about twenty after my third miscarriage.”

Emma stared at her in shock, “Oh god.” Just because Emma hadn’t really ever planned on getting pregnant in the first place, let alone again after the first time, didn’t mean she wanted to have the decision taken away from her. Even when she had known she wasn’t going to keep her baby, the idea of a miscarriage was horrifying to her. She couldn’t imagine going through that once, let alone three times.

Regina’s mask was firmly in place and she didn’t move her gaze from the wall but she attempted a small, ironic, smile, “Come dear, didn’t you ever wonder why I adopted instead of some other method? A method that would have made my right to him even more sound? It wasn’t the only reason, but the fact that all other methods of having a child were impossible…”

Emma nodded, because she had. It was something she’d always wondered about—still a shock though. It made Sophia even more of a miracle.

Regina pushed ahead as it was obvious she did not want to dwell on this topic, “That, coupled with the fact that the other normal requirement for conceiving had not been met for months, made it obvious that her origin was magical in nature. A simple test confirmed my suspicions about who the other parent was.”

“Is this something that happens often in the Enchanted Forest? Two people of the same sex magically making a kid without…” She coughed, her face flushing slightly.

Regina smirked at her embarrassment but did not call her on it. “Not particularly, but it is known to be a possibility. It can only happen this way with two women, both who are normally magical, and the child is always a girl as well. However,” Emma perked up at that, wanting to know what else made their daughter so special. “As I said before, significantly more intent normally needs to be present. Both women must want a child and will for it to happen, and normally sex is a part of it. Although, I suppose its not usually attempted without that part—two women wouldn’t normally want to have a child together if they weren’t in some sort of romantic relationship.”

Emma was still trying to avoid that line of thinking, “So it’s not normally an accident then.”

“Correct,” Regina confirmed, “But your magic is due to you being the product of true love and combining our magic to stop the trigger was a very unique situation. I should have expected a side effect of some sort.”

“How come I didn’t get pregnant instead?” Emma asked. “Or both of us?”

Regina pursed her lips as she considered it, “For the same reason most likely. Stopping the trigger did not require all of your magic and all of my magic. So it took it all in and sent back out whatever wasn’t needed any longer. Since I had been….feeding it the longest, what it sent out was mostly your magic. Your own magic wouldn’t have had any sort of dramatic effect on you, aside from perhaps making you feel better after pushing it all into the gem.”

She met Emma’s eyes, a look of disapproval on her face, “I never got the chance to mention it, but you shoved far too much of your magic far too quickly into the trigger. You’re lucky it didn’t shatter and that the resulting shockwave didn’t injure anyone.”

Emma rolled her eyes, “Right ‘cause there’d been _so_ much time to think and I’d had _so_ much magic training.”

Regina scowled and humphed. “I suppose you didn’t know any better.” Then, almost to herself, the older woman muttered, “I feel like that’s how it’s been ever since you showed up—you turning everything on its head, by accident.”

The blonde grinned foolishly and Regina rolled her eyes before Emma sobered. “Sorry you had to the pregnancy stuff on your own. Oh, and that you had to do it in like, the medieval times,” her nose crinkled at the thought. No hospitals or doctors or drugs.

Regina smirked, “Yes, well, magic helped quite a lot and Wi-Granny helped with the actual birth. Tink, being a fairy, had no idea what was going on and Miss Lucas was too disturbed by the whole process to be of much use beyond fetching things for us.”

Emma laughed at that, “Yes, Ruby’s not big on blood and I’d probably be freaked out too if I hadn’t already done it. Glad it all worked out, even with you guys being in the Stone Age. I can’t even imagine dealing with a baby without like, diapers.”

“Magic, dear,” Regina supplied helpfully.

“And I bet you helped out my mom with her kid, magically and all, right?” the sarcasm in her voice obvious.

Regina flapped a hand, “Please, the princess had dozens of servants to jumping at the chance to tend to her little spawn. She certainly didn’t need my help.”

The glint in her brown eyes told Emma she was teasing. “What’s he like?” She had meant to sound only curious but there was a cautious note she hadn’t been able to help.

Regina regarded her closely and Emma could tell the older woman knew how conflicted she felt about her long-lost parents having a new child. “He’s not a replacement for you.” Emma looked down at that, so Regina followed her cue and acted as though this topic didn’t bother the other woman. “Honestly, I haven’t spent much time around him, but Steven seems like a nice little boy, not as smart as our Sophia though.”

Emma automatically smiled at the mention of their daughter and how easily Regina seemed to use ‘our’ when it came to her. Though it reminded her of something else that had been bothering her and in her rush to get away from the current uncomfortable topic, she blurted out, “How come you’re being so… different about Sophia?”

Regina lifted an eyebrow in a silent question.

“Here’s the thing,” Emma elaborated, “With Henry, in the beginning, you did everything you could to keep me out of his life, or at least you didn’t _want_ me in it. But with Sophia, you told me about her and how she was my daughter as soon as it would have made any sense to me when you could have, if you wanted to, never told me and I never would have even suspected a thing. You seem to _want_ me in her life. I don’t…” She looked down at her lap, frustrated with her inability to understand. “You could have told me you had a one night stand with some guy and that’s how you got her or anything really and I never would have questioned it.”

“It’s because the situations are completely different.” Regina didn’t need to look to see Emma’s confused expression. She inwardly sighed, wondering why no one ever understood. “With Henry, I was his mother, his only mother. You signed a closed adoption and I raised him for years and I know that no one wants to acknowledge that fact, but to me that made you as entitled to him as a stranger, or at least only slightly more entitled.”

“Now, I shouldn’t have tried to drive you away because if Henry wanted you in his life, I should have respected that and done what made him happy, but it never would be due to that fact that you earned that right nor deserved it. Not without having to do anything to get it.”

“Obviously,” she continued, not wanting Emma to get the wrong impression. “Since then you _have_ earned such a place in his life, even more so with this past year and I would never try to take that from you now, but back then…” She trailed off, mind lost in those painful days, where Henry was constantly hostile and she was constantly drowning. She had fallen back on her old, ingrained coping mechanisms and forged that despair into rage, rage at the easiest target.

“You must understand how much pain you caused me in the beginning. Henry had been pulling away from me for months before you came, when before he’d never been mad at me for more than a few hours. And then he finds some stranger who he claims is his “real” mother, as if I was nothing but a placeholder, as if I meant nothing to him at all when I was his mother. And he gave all his love and attention and respect to you, someone who had given him away and had no right…” Her voice broke off and Emma was too caught up in the words spilling from Regina’s lips to say anything. She took a deep breath, “It was easy, to turn all my rage and frustration onto you.”

The more Emma thought about it, the more she could see Regina’s side. See the truth. She had been so concerned with Henry’s happiness, with the fear of his fixation on fairytales that she forgot she truly had given up the right to be worried. Regina had made it so easy though, so easy to justify sticking around and meddling in Henry’s life. So easy to convince herself the beautiful brunette must have something to hide. Her constant aggression, the way she kept trying to order Emma to leave, the challenge. Emma had stayed for so many reasons, but mostly because Regina had tried so hard to drive her off. She’d always been told she had problems with authority.

She was struck by the sudden thought that even if Regina hadn’t remembered her fairytale life, but the curse had left her personality more or less intact, Regina would have acted the exact same way. Her defensiveness really had been just that—defense against the perceived assault that was apparently Emma’s mere presence. Seems self-destruction was yet another thing they had in common.

And while Emma was glad she had stayed, she found she wished it had been for more noble reasons. She wished she’d stayed because of the easy friendship she’d found, for the kid she’d given up. Honestly though, those things had scared her more than they had enticed her to stay. Ironic how all of Regina’s attempts to get rid of her, were really the tipping point to her staying.

She was getting distracted though, “And with Sophia?”

Regina took another deep breath, clearly having trouble with so much honesty, but her eyes still lit up as she talked about her daughter, their daughter, just as they did with Henry. “Sophia is a miracle and she is our miracle. You had absolutely no choice in not being her life, not being able to make that choice is what is different.” Her voice was firm, absolute in her conviction, “You didn’t know it was a possibility at all—I didn’t even think it was.”

They were both staring at the wall in front of them, finding it easier to talk that way, less pressure. All the better to pretend this wasn’t one of the most significant conversations they’d ever had. “Sophia is not the child that you had in a difficult situation and choose to send away so that they would have the best chance of a stable and happy life and then tried to take back when you felt you were ready with no regard to the mother who had put in the time and effort and love. Sophia is the daughter you never even knew was possible and you deserve the chance to be there for her.”

Emma disagreed slightly, as at the time she had shown up she hadn’t wanted to be Henry’s mother, not exactly. She wasn’t sure what she had wanted then. But phrased that way, she could see Regina’s point. She frowned in concentration. “What about Neal? You don’t want him in Henry’s life and he hadn’t known about him either.”

Regina made a face that revealed her distaste, “Mr. Cassidy did make a choice.” Her voice once more left no room for argument, stubborn to a fault. The level of her underlying anger was more than apparent and it was only after knowing her as well as she did that could Emma detect the hint of defensiveness in her tone as well, “He choose to betray you on the word of a stranger, out of fear. He gave up his right to Henry the second he set you up to take the fall for him. When he abandoned you, he relinquished any claim to anything good you could bring him—and Henry is most certainly that. He obviously never even checked up on you. He made his choice.”

“And just as with my treatment of you with regards to your initial relationship with Henry, it has absolutely nothing to do with nor anything in common with your relationship with Sophia.”

Emma nodded this time as Regina spoke, because it was what she herself had felt with it came to Neal, but not known how to say. Funny how only the ‘Evil Queen’ seemed to get why she didn’t want anything to do with her ex-fiancé. The only reason she had let him near Henry was because Henry wanted to know him. Even then she’d only done so grudgingly and with great misgivings. That was one of the big role reversals that had truly made her appreciate Regina’s side of all of this.

Another was having taken care of Henry these past few months. There’s knowing that being a parent is a full-time job and there’s _knowing—_ and thinking and being. With only these past few months she was surprised, even with her correct memories restored, the brief flare-ups of jealousy and protectiveness and possessiveness that had sprung up this evening about Henry toward Regina. They were short and easily reasoned away, but now she could begin to understand how Regina had felt when Emma had first shown up. It didn’t really fully count as understanding, because a lot of her feelings had to do with the fact that her memories weren’t hers and Regina had gotten to live them with their son while she hadn’t. She didn’t think she’d ever stop grieving all the time she had missed with him. The, now rather faded, memories were bittersweet—better than nothing, but tinted with sadness since she’d never made them herself.

At least she would miss less with Sophia. She would get to do things for real this time. How was this going to work though? Would they all… live together? She couldn’t imagine not living with Henry anymore and she wanted to live with Sophia (she wanted to live with Regina as well). She certainly wasn’t going back to living with her parents in that little apartment. Did Regina want that though?

“How involved can I be in Sophia’s life?” She felt a pang of regret when she realized she’d never even asked that question with Henry, for all Regina had given her an answer—she just hadn’t respected it. Regina turned, frowning at her. “I mean, you said I could be her mom, but what does that mean?”

Regina still looked mildly puzzled, “It means exactly that.”

Emma made a frustrated noise, “Like, I assume she lives with you, obviously, and Henry will now too and I…” _Where will I fit in?_ remained unspoken.

She could see the moment that it clicked for Regina. To the blonde’s great surprise, Regina blushed lightly. It was slight, and if they hadn’t been sitting so close she probably wouldn’t have been able to tell. I hadn’t even known Regina could do that, Emma thought, oddly fascinated. (Part of her mind drifted on a tangent on how else she could get the brunette to do it again before it was ruthlessly crushed.)

“I,” Regina paused, “I do want them to live with me and I assumed you would want to live with them as well, and while we could work out some sort of shared custody arrangement, I had,” hoped, she thought, “the idea it might be preferable for you to live at my house. I have a number of guest rooms and even a finished basement that could be adapted if you preferred—with magic very little isn’t a possibility. An addition could be possible to pull together in a few days if it was needed.”

Emma stared at the other woman, “You’d let me do that?”

Regina simply nodded, “Of course, as I said, you deserve to fully participate in our children’s lives and my house makes the most sense for us to live in, again, unless you’d prefer some sort of part time arrangement.”

It was obvious which option Regina preferred, and Emma agreed with her, she just hadn’t thought Regina would. Now more than ever though she knew how important a stable home was, her old guilt about taking Henry from his home to stick him in that apartment, her fake guilt from her memories about them moving around a lot, and even now just from their moving to New York and her promising herself they would stay so her son could have a home. “I think all four of us in the mansion makes the most sense,” she agreed, “But are you sure you won’t mind?”

Regina brushed her off, “I wouldn’t have offered if I minded, dear.”

Emma narrowed her eyes, “Yes, you would have. If it meant you had Henry home with you again, you’d put up with anything.”

Regina glared at her, but it lacked the heat of anger. Finally, when all Emma did in response was smile cheesily, she rolled her eyes in annoyance, “Fine. I would have. However, I do not mind.” Emma just raised an eyebrow. “Honestly,” Regina said with a small scowl at having to repeat herself. “I suppose we’ll have to actually try it out to be sure—and you will be doing your fair share of housework—but I wouldn’t mind having someone else to help with both children. And I’m sure any bad habits you have, you can be trained out of,” she added with a smirk.

“Hey!”

Regina shrugged, “You asked for the truth, dear.”

Emma grumbled, but she had brought that upon herself. Unfortunately, with this problem resolved and everything else discussed throughout the afternoon and evening with Henry, and to a lesser extent Sophia, that left only one burning idea in her mind.

Sure, Emma had known before that they made some pretty cool magic together, but it had been something she’d shoved to the back of her mind because really everything was so overwhelming and magic was something she could barely wrap her head around even without all the emotional turmoil. Now though, the few months away from everything and living a normal life, had surprisingly given her a welcome break in a way and so some of her thoughts were a lot clearer. Taking a step back, even without realizing it, was very helpful.

Now she suspected that there was even more to the implications of her magic than she’d vaguely realized. After all that trigger was supposed to unstoppable and then there was that eclipse—she bet even that stupid hat that had sent her and Mary-Snow back to the middle ages was because of their combined magic. For the thousandth time she found herself cursing her lack of knowledge about everything, especially magic.

Her eyes darted over to Regina, who appeared to be staring ahead again, lost in her own thoughts. Regina knew all about magic, but did she think… Did she suspect what Emma was beginning to? After all, even Emma’s denial wasn’t so strong she can hold onto it while reality smacks her in the face repeatedly. Reality which seemed to think they’re true loves.

Facing her emotions wasn’t something Emma was in a habit of doing either, but at least it was more familiar than magic. Her feelings toward Regina had always been complicated and that certainly hadn’t changed, nor did she think that it would change.

She started off easy, did she find Regina attractive? She nearly snorted at herself because that wasn’t even something that needed admitting too. Of course she did, she had since she first laid eyes on the beautiful woman and no amount of arguing had ever been able to make her stop. If anything, she sometimes she felt herself wanting Regina more after one of their arguments. Still, she wasn’t sure if she had had actual romantic feelings for her then and that was partially due to her inability to deal with things like that and one other big factor: her utter certainty that Regina would never think of her that way, want her that way. It wasn’t necessarily a depressing thought, it just seemed to be an obvious fact, and so Emma had never given much thought to anything along those lines.

Regina certainly was her type, Emma thought wryly. Brunette, private, confident, damaged. Older, unavailable, the passion below the surface that she couldn’t resist. Someone she thought she could rely on, someone she felt she knew where she stood, on things and with her. Not afraid to speak her mind, no sugar coating. A past as complex and painful as her own, more than her own.

She had wanted her son to have a mother who thought he was the world and could give it to him and, low and behold, he had gotten that. The question was, was there room in his mother’s heart for someone else? She’d always thought no, not for anyone. But could she have been wrong? Could there be room for her?

She thought back to Neverland and how horrible she felt the whole time. Between her parents expectations and relentless optimism, the sudden confrontation of pieces of her past, Hook’s constant innuendo, finding Neal, and then the tug of war between the two of them… She had thought, on more than one occasion, how much simpler this would be if it was just her and Regina. More than once, she had felt Regina agreed with her. In fact, Regina had probably wished none of them had come, especially since aside from the eclipse thing, Regina, with help from Gold, was the one who had really saved their son.

It was funny, but all the others: her parents, Hook, Neal, all of those people who talked so much about how much she meant to them, often didn’t act like it. They couldn’t make up their minds, was she a child to be coddled or a savior to be sacrificed and a number of other contradictory things—none of which were actually her. Regina was the opposite, hating her with her words and then doing things like saving her. Regina was the one who had been on the same wavelength as her (saving Henry). Regina who might criticize and snark, but seemed to be the only one who actually listened to her and what she wanted. The one who actually seemed to see her, to know her.

She thought back to that last day in Storybrooke. The way Regina had looked and acted. What she did for Henry and Emma. What she did for Emma in particular because Emma already knew Regina would do anything for her son. She had let Emma take him, trusted her with Henry and that… That definitely said something. The memories too, now that Emma could see them for what they were, too real and genuine—were Regina’s. Regina had given Emma her memories of Henry. The look in her eyes as she explained what she was doing. Emma’s name on her lips when she woke from the ground after learning what the spell would cost.

“I had just assumed…” Emma paused and took a deep breath, “Your price…for setting the new curse… it wasn’t just saying goodbye to Henry, was it?”

Regina could tell Emma wasn’t really asking, but she answered her anyway, “No, it wasn’t.”

“Was _I_ involved in any way?” she kept her voice purposefully light, slightly teasing.

“Perhaps.” Inwardly, Regina was panicking. She didn’t know how to do this part. She didn’t know how to do anything relationship wise that wasn’t yearning from afar and torturing herself over the fact that she couldn’t be with who she loved. Yet here she was, sitting next to Emma, Henry just down that hall asleep with Sophia—everything she wanted. Emma certainly wasn’t helping, her tone too casual for Regina to properly gauge what the blonde was feeling, but the absence of telling Regina to get out and the way she had actually listened to Regina’s explanations of her views seemed rather suggestive.

Unlike others in Emma’s past, unlike anyone since ten years ago Neal, Regina was someone she could see a future with, one she knew she would have a future with. The future she had always craved: an equal, someone to have her back, someone who saw her as she truly was, a family, and a home. Emma had always been a runner, leaving before she got hurt, again. Regina had always been a fighter, lashing out at the world and desperately going after what she wanted. For just this once though, it looked like their positions were reversed. For once, Regina was holding back and Emma was going to have to reach out.

Emma took a deep breath, turning to face the petrified brunette next to her. “Regina…”

Something in her voice must have been enough to compel the older woman to turn slightly, brown eyes meeting green-blue. Regina’s eyes had always given the most clues as to what she was feeling, once you learned to try to read them. Now, they told Emma all she needed to know and gave her the final burst of bravado she needed.

Emma reached a hand up, cupping Regina’s face carefully before her lips covered full red ones. Emma wasn’t sure what she expected, because part of her was still convinced there was no way Regina actually had feelings for her, but the way Regina automatically leaned into the kiss still managed to catch her off guard. The older woman’s lips were just as soft and warm as before although now she could truly enjoy them, knowing exactly who she was kissing and with no sudden onslaught of repressed memories. Emma opened her mouth slightly, but the kiss stayed relatively simple, as if both were still making sure this wasn’t a dream.

They pulled back slightly and half-lidded eyes met. There was only time for each to take a breath and the next instant their lips were fused together once more. Where the previous kiss had been short and gentle, this one was anything but. Heated mouths opened almost instantly, allowing warm tongues to brush against each other. Someone let out a quiet moan that was answered by a pleased hum as pleasure began to spread through them.

One of Emma’s hands continued to gently cup Regina’s cheek while the other snaked around her back, pulling her closer. Regina leaned into the motion, one hand weaving itself into the blonde’s curls, which were as soft and silky as she had imagined. The brunette pressed against the blonde urgently as Emma eagerly responded. Every point they touched woke all their nerve endings, blinding them to anything else that might have been going on.

After a few moments that felt like blissful hours, Regina’s mind caught up fully to the reality of what was happening and what it meant. She struggled with the one strand of self-control the blonde had not yet broken with her addictive kisses. She push on Emma’s shoulders and their lips parted with a delicious sound that only made Regina want to lean back in.

“Emma…” Regina’s voice was breathy as she tried to hang onto what was left of her clear headed thinking. “You must be sure.” Despite her obvious desire to continue what they were doing, her tone conveyed how serious she was, even if she doubted her own ability to actually pull away if Emma changed her mind. She needed the blonde to be sure though, needed her to say it, what she was getting into and what this kiss, these kisses meant.. Because now that this was happening, it all seemed to be going so fast and she needed something solid to hang onto and assure her it wouldn’t all disappear just as fast

Emma took in Regina’s lightly flushed face and dark eyes, seeing the emotions painted clearly in them. She didn’t need to ask Regina to tell her own feelings because Emma had always been a person of action and Regina’s actions were more than enough to communicate Emma what the older woman felt. “I am,” Emma replied confidently, in fact it was the most sure of anything she’d been in a long time. She smiled as she leaned back into the next kiss, “I love you too.”

-x-x-x-

_“When we get back, you totally wanna make out in front of my parents, don’t you?”_

_“Perhaps.”_

**Author's Note:**

> I spent a lot of time on this story and I hope you all liked it. :)


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